


Monster Hunter: Anthro World

by Alleskeins



Category: Monster Hunter (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Eventual Romance, F/M, Human/Monster Romance, Hunters & Hunting, Monster Hunters, Monsters, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-12 06:41:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13541856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alleskeins/pseuds/Alleskeins
Summary: Striving to follow in his father's footsteps, a young hunter sets sail for the New World. Along with him, he brings an amulet that hosts unknown powers and abilities. Once he finds out what it is capable of doing, it opens a whole new kind of hunting. Something more... unconventional to say the least.





	1. Off to the New World

The time had come. The migration of the elder dragons.

Nobody knew where to and nobody knew what for. At least until now.

The research committee put together an expedition. An expedition to follow wherever this migration was heading to. We gave this place a placeholder name which was subject to change once we knew more about it and could decide on a better one.

We called it: The New World

The day that the research committee put together this expedition, the distant skies we could see the elder dragons Teostra and Fatalis heading towards the horizon and the others couldn't have been far behind.

Me and hundreds of onlookers gazed at the awe-inspiring site that only came along every 10 years waiting in the harbors of the Research committee headquarters.

Me? My name is Kalaydus and today marked the beginning of the trip that would forever change my life.

I just turned 21, meaning for the first time ever, I qualified to join the expeditions of the research committee. Like many hunters before me, I would make a name for myself and hone my ability to fight while growing stronger and stronger with each prey that I defeat.

On the day that the research committee posted these pamphlets:

Have you ever wanted to go on an expedition?

Have you ever thought about becoming a hunter unlike any other?

We need you!

The new world is waiting and nobody knows what to expect. Would the monsters there be the same as here or would there be creatures that nobody has ever laid eyes upon?

You could be one of the first to find out! Join the research committee. We will arm you free of charge and set you up alongside veteran hunters to help you learn the ins and outs of monster hunting.

Applications will be sorted at the harbor where you can board any of the five fleets and prepare yourself…

…for the NEW WORLD!

I balled my fists, clenching the application paper in my hand as I wait in line to board the Fourth Fleet. The airship loomed over me, the large blimp on the ready for departure. The line got shorter and shorter until it was finally my turn.

I was met with an old, gruff looking man, wearing the standard hunter armor that every rookie in the research committee wore. I doubted though that he was a rookie, he had scars running over his face and a face that spelled hardass. He probably wore it for the occasion to welcome the rookies to meet them as an equal.

With glinting eyes, he looked me up and down. "Welcome aboard the Fourth Fleet. What can I do for ya, kid?"

I handed him the paper, trying to not look too intimidated by his rough demeanor. "I came to sign up for the research committee. You know, the expedition?"

"Of course I know, what do you think I'm here for?"

"S…sorry, that was a stupid question, sir."

"I ain't that old, kid. Drop the 'sir'. The stress of fightin' monsters the size of mountains would turn any man's hair gray early."

"Really? How old are you, exactly?"

He grumbled annoyed, seemingly wanting to avoid the question. "You wanna be a hunter or researcher?"

"Hunter, s… uhh hunter. Just hunter."

"Uhuh, now here's the deal, kid. You're obviously inexperienced. You've never fought a monster in your life before and you're as scrawny as they come. You're gonna have a lotta learnin' to do so stick to your superiors, alright?"

"Understood, si… goddammit it's really hard to not say that!"

The veteran rubbed his face. "Hoh boy… Listen, your application checks out. The barracks are under deck where you will find your armor. Equip yourself and once you're done, I will come to you eventually to introduce you to your weaponry. You're gonna have a lot of options so you better choose wisely what you want to specialize in. You can't be a Jack of all trades out there and be 'okay' at something. You're gonna have to bring you're A-Game eventually and you better master your weapon."

I nodded enthusiastically and could barely contain my excitement to get started. "What will we be hunting? Barroth? Diablos? Deviljo? Dalamadur?!" I clenched my fist. My eyes must have been sparkling at this point.

"Jesus Christ, kid! Dial it down a bit! You ain't even fit to handle a Jaggi yet!" He blurted at me, making everyone on board stare at us. "*sigh* Nobody knows what expects us in the New World. That's kind of the point of this whole expedition. If you wanna find out: Do what I say, grab your shit and wait til we're departing. Until then, you still have the chance to chicken out. If ya don't, welcome to the crew." And then, he turned around and tended to a different applicant. Leaving me to enter the airship.

I wasn't the only excited hunter going on this new adventure. Several hopefuls were already being taught how the research committee will conduct their mission in the New World and some others around my age tried their fighting moves on the training dummies.

I saw all kinds of weapons being used: Switchblades, Chargeblades, Gunlances, Bows and Bowguns. All of the weapons that I've seen other hunters use before. The hunters that I've looked up to ever since childhood. Hunters like my father.

He was the one that raised me on his own after resigning from hunting. I never got to meet my mother. He told me that she was still out there, but that she couldn't come visit me because it was somehow dangerous. She sent me gifts from time to time and dad would always assure me that she loved me very much.

My dad always said that I am a very special child, that I was a very miraculous birth. I never understood that but I never really questioned it either. I suppose every parent says that about their child. That they're special and unique.

And I can hardly complain, I saw my father as a role model. In his hay day he was one of the most famous hunters out there and I strived to carry his legacy. But… when I told him that, he got really, really mad.

At first, he always told me off when I spoke of my plans to join the research committee but the more it became clear to him that I wouldn't cave in, he became somber.

He visited me in my room as I packed my stuff and sat me down for a serious talk. I could still hear his words ring in my head:

"Son, when I said you were special, I meant it. You have no idea and I don't expect you to understand. I know you will do what you want to and I can't stop you. You're the son of your old man after all, hehe. I just want to ask this one thing of you. Take my amulet with you. I want you to always carry it with you as close as you can. I promise once you figure out how it works, there will be a lot of things that'll become clear to you. I know you'll make me proud, son."

I arrived at my bunk, rowed up with several dozens of similar looking ones.

I found a trunk tucked right underneath my hammock. I pulled it out from underneath, opening it up and finding my Hunter Armor set inside. Heavy brown leather with a green cape thrown over the right-side shoulder. It came with a few extras like the famous slinger that the research committee was known for. A crossbow that you could strap to your arm, simply genius. There were also a set of protective goggles which will come in useful and lastly, a sort of cage that looked like a lantern strapped to my belt.

I had no idea what that last thing was for. Maybe to make light when it was dark out? I didn't think much of it.

In fact, my mind was consumed with much more important things. Things like the hunts I will go on. The monsters I will face. And the New World itself.

I threw myself into the hammock, swinging lazily in it as I stare at the ceiling, fantasizing.

With the heavy armor on me it was a little harder to get comfortable but I managed to get into a somewhat relaxed position. It was at that moment, that I felt this rush of emotion well up within me. A mix of curiosity, excitement but also some anxiety and sadness. It would be the first time leaving my home and I wouldn't return for a very long time. Dad wouldn't be there for me to teach me what to do and I had to become a lot stronger if I ever wanted to become like him.

I pulled out the amulet he gave me from underneath my armor and twirled around the pendant that was hanging from it.

It was made of green scales that formed the rim of it while the center was encased in a sort of glass dome. Within that little dome was some kind of thick liquid that was swirling around. It was red with dark shades, looking almost like blood but more… strange. It didn't look like human blood at least that much was certain. Maybe it was the blood of a monster that my father killed, who knows.

There was something mysterious about it though. I couldn't tell exactly what it was but the aura of this pendant felt like there was more to it than just being an accessory.

"What were you doing with this thing, dad? What didn't you tell me about this?" I mumbled to myself as I cleaned the glass surface with my thumb.

"Hooks off! Everybody stay away from the railing! We're leaving!"

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the captain announce the departure of the fleet. There was no going back now.

The whole vessel creaked and shook as we left the pier. It felt weird thinking about how I'm flying in a boat, hundreds of feet above the ground. Just one more reason for my stomach to start turning.

There was so much ahead of me. Maybe once I get to this New World, I will understand my father better… maybe even my mother. I tucked my amulet into my armor again, a cocky smile crossing my lips as I throw my arms behind my head and swing along with the ship's movements.

I hear screeching outside. The incomparable shrieks of Kushala Daora. And I get chills by the thought of one day… facing these monsters as an equal.


	2. The weapon of your choice

And there I was. Sailing on board of the fourth fleet.

Lying in my bunk, I sway with the ships movements as a gruff, barking noise ripped me out of my relaxation.

"What are ya doin' kid? The other recruits already met on deck for battle instruction. Get a move on!" I heard as I felt droplets of spit coming from the mouth of the veteran hunter that welcomed me earlier.

"I didn't hear any roll calls, sir." I tried to excuse myself.

"Didn't ya hear the gong outside? And weren't ya kinda curious why all the other crewmembers suddenly left the quarters?"

I sit up from my bunk and look to my left and right. He was right, all bunks were empty except mine. "I uhh.. I must've been a bit out of it. Sea sick or something. Heheh…" I tried to cover my sheer inattentiveness with a joke. Poorly. It was lost on him of course.

"One wrong move like that with a monster and yer either injured or dead, son." He pulled my headband over my eyes in a strong tug, making it stuck there and hard to get off. But even as I couldn't see anything, I could still feel his scolding look. "Prep yerself up and get up and at it. Ya got one minute max or we're startin' without ya. And good luck tryin' ta learn usin' a weapon on yer own."

And with those words, I could hear him leaving and climbing back up on deck. I could hear him yell instructions from upstairs as I still struggle to get my headband off my eyes. Okay, not the best first impression, I'll admit. I'll have a chance at regaining some dignity at the training session. I hoped so at least.

I finally got finished putting my clothes in order and quickly sprinted up the stairs to the deck. We were sailing pas some mountainsides through a foggy valley while the recruits were all lined up in a perfect row to wait for their turn.

Each trainee had to state their weapon of choice and then had to imitate the veterans that were proficient in these weapons and showed them the standard attack moves.

Training dummies, wrapped with some monster's hide were put up, so people could hit them as hard as a meteorite and it still wouldn't break.

Before the veterans noticed my late arrival, I stepped into the end of the line, waiting.

"Alright, ya wide-eyed green horns, enough of the starin'. Name's Sullivan. I'm the head leader of the training corps ordered to get this here crew at least somewhat in shape to fight. You've got 14 of us in front of ya, includin' me and be assured, we've all mastered our weapon of choice. So if ya guys think ya gotta be smart on us, or give us some lip, ya gonna be mighty disappointed. Y'all are gonna be the ones lookin' stupid if ya try us, so don't start anythin' with the instructors tellin' them their weapons are too heavy, too weak or too slow to use. They managed with it, so will you!" The grey-haired veteran introduced himself to the crew, walking up and down the line, staring all of the recruits right into the eyes with just a few inches from their faces to intimidate them.

When he got to me, his brows furrowed and his look was on me for a few seconds longer than the other trainees. I could already tell that he didn't think much of me.

"Allright, when I get to ya, y'all are gonna yell the weapon ya wish ta train at me. And do it with some conviction for cryin' out loud.

"YOU!"

"Hammer, Sir!"

"Far right! And you!?"

"Switchblade!"

"Center to the left! What about you?!"

"Insect Glaive!"

"What're ya waitin' for, bug brain? Move it to Andersen over there!..."

I gulped as I saw one recruit after the other being sent toward one of the 14 instructors. As quick as they arrived, they were given the standard issue of their weapon type. Simple but well crafted iron weapons. Immediately I heard clanking of longswords and the explosions of gunlances, the clicking of insect glaives and the electrical zaps of the chargeblades.

And when all others were assigned to a post, Veteran Sullivan arrived at me. His eyes were sharp and he already seemed to not care what I'd pick. "Well, ya had plenty of time to be thinkin' about it, kid. What weapon's it gonna be?"

I gulped and wrung out the words. "Dual Blades."

"Dual blades, huh?" He scratched his stubble beard and he wasn't to happy with my choice apparently. "Lucky me, I get to teach ya. Try not ta hurt yerself, kid and follow me over to my sparring corner." He turned around, making sure that I noticed how little he enjoyed the thought of having me as his student.

I hesitantly followed him, trying to ignore the other trainees that turned their heads towards us. Even they were apparently interested in seeing who the head instructor is teaching.

Sullivan stuck his head into a decorated, blue chest, pulling out a pair of iron dual blades. They both had sharp edges on the underside of their blade but while one of them had a flat, normal upside, the other was curved in and was serrated with metal spikes. The grips of the two blades reminded of a bony spine which had spikes as well as if you were supposed to punch something with the grip when you were in a tight spot.

"We call em Matched Slicers. These're the weapons every newbie starts out with. Think you can handle these, kid?" He said as he tossed the dual blades to me. I barely managed to catch them without cutting myself, eliciting a giggle from the other trainees who quickly looked away when I turned around to them.

"That depends, sir. What would you have me do?" I said as I inspected my newly acquired, weirdly light blades. The grip was perfect and it felt so natural to hold them.

"Listen up, squirt. Yer trying ta make a dent in a monster, so your grip better be tight. With dual blades you don't deal the most damage, but it needs to be dealt rapidly. Your swings need to be strong enough to pierce a monster's hide but also quick enough so you can get out of the following counter attacks. So since you seem more of the agile than the strong type, I'd recommend the overhead butterfly move. It basically means you jump towards the monster, spin your body with your blades stretched out as far as you can and bring down the swing with the power of your rotation. Like so."

Sullivan pulled out his own pair of iron dual blades as he readied himself for a launched attack on the thick, wooden pole covered in monster hide.

I watched him intently and I think my mouth dropped when I saw at which fluidity he got into battle stance before pulling his leg back and launching himself towards the pole. His body spun like a corkscrew in the air as the blades he held close to his body suddenly fanned out and he turned into a spinning tornado of death. His blades sliced across the monster hide, leaving significant scratches on it but not cutting through the hide entirely. That was probably due to the limited sharpness of our weaponry. Weapons created with higher sharpness would've completely destroyed this pole. And I have no doubt Sullivan could've cut the entire thing in half if he really tried with his own equipment.

After his attack, Sullivan jumped backwards, away from the pole as if to simulate dodging. He wasn't even slightly out of breath as he turned to me. "Ya got that?"

"I got it, si… sorry, I wasn't supposed to call you that anymore."

"Just call me Sullivan for fucks sake. Get your ass up and show me that ye can do more than just spit big words and lounge around our ship." He stepped away from the training dummy and leaned on the railing to watch me perform my attack.

I took a deep breath and got into the battle stance I imitated from him. My eyes were fixed on the pole and the grip on my blades was tight. I had the move memorized and visualized it. Launch, spin and bring down the blades one after the other.

I pulled my leg back just like he did and jumped. I tried to spin my body mid-air, but I could already tell it wasn't fast enough. I closed my eyes and tried to put all my power into my arm as I swung it down. And… I bounced off.

Not only did I just bounce off, but it was like the hide repelled me and launched me right back in the same arch that I came at it. My dual blades slid over the deck of the ship and my body rolls several feet away from the target.

Immediately the other trainees focus on me and start snickering. My arms and back hurt a bit, but I didn't suffer any other wounds. What really hurt, was the humiliation. My trainer put his hands to his hips and walked towards me while shaking his head.

"*sigh* Maybe you should return with the next ship, kid. This clearly isn't…"

"Shut… the… fuck… up…"

I spoke through my teeth as I picked up my swords again. Sullivan reached out to pick me up, but I whacked his hand away from my face. Everyone fell silent as I got back on my feet, unsteady as it may have been, I managed to stand straight. "I get it, okay! You think I'm lousy and unfit for this mission. You made it perfectly clear that you don't have high expectations of me. But if you don't even believe in me, then I will have to do it for myself."

I ripped my talisman off my neck and tied the torn ends of the necklace around the grip of one of my blades. I inhale and exhale heavily, suppressing my frustration as I head towards the training pole. I looked over my shoulder at the speechless veteran.

"I made a mistake. It happens." I said calmly as I readied my blades again. I faced the pole, pulled my foot back and kicked myself upwards into a lunge attack. This time I spun much faster and the first hit… was a huge success. I left a gash on the monster hide and everyone who watched had their eyes widening and their faces lighting up.

Looking at the damage I did, I wasn't satisfied. I flipped my blades so they were facing behind me and I started wildly thrashing at the pole. I got in tens of hits, meeting the pole with a flurry of cuts. And as my frenzy slowly died down, I swung my swords over my head and struck them down onto it together before using the momentum to launch myself backwards in a dodge.

Everything fell silent. The monster hide was filled with new cuts and holes. I put my swords together while breathing heavily and sheathed them on my back.

I looked at the ground and heaved heavy breaths. My lungs were burning. "I improvised a bit there at the end… *huff* Think that counts as a successful attack?" I smirk to myself even though I had no air to be sarcastic.

But as I looked over at Sullivan, our heads immediately turned to the other recruits who started cheering and clapping.

"Way to go, dude!"

"Holy shit, that was amazing!"

"You need to show me how you did this!"

I was euphoric and my heart was beating like crazy. I turned to Sullivan who rolled his eyes and approached me.

He put his hands on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eyes with a piercing glare. "Ya did good…"

"Thanks Su…"

"…against a dummy. Don't get cocky, kid." He cut me off before I could finish.

I stared straight back at him. "It's Kalaydus, Sullivan. Drop the 'kid' thing'." I smirked.

He understandingly smirked back and jokingly answered. "Shoulda never allowed ya to stop callin' me 'sir'."

We nodded to each other as he put his hands off me and was about to turn away when suddenly another veteran ran up to us. "Sullivan! Look at the pole!"

"What? The pole? I saw what Kalaydus did already. I…" His words were stuck in his throat as we all faced the training pole.

The hide that was stretched over the pole suddenly… dissolved. The scales fell off one after the other and piled onto the floor. The hide underneath shrunk until if fell off completely and was only a quarter the size of what it once was. The wooden pole was stripped completely and only the unharmed wood was left.

The pile of scales and monster hide on the floor had everyone's attention and their eyes soon turned towards me since I was the last to use it. "Kalaydus? What did you do? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" Sullivan asked baffled and shocked.

"I swear… I…I don't know! I just did what you asked. I couldn't have broken it, could I?"

"That thing is built to withstand hammers and greatswords. It's impossible that you destroyed it. Unless you laced your blades with something."

"I did nothing to the blades, I only had them for a couple of minutes and you saw everything. Unless…"

I pulled out my blade, looking at my father's amulet that was tied around the grip and reflected the sunlight as it dangled there.

"Show me that amulet, maybe I can figure out…"

"INCOMING!"

A panicked shout rang out from the crow's nest on top of the main sail's mast.

The trainees, veterans and me all ran to the railing, looking ahead of the ship. We were still sailing through the foggy valley. And from the foggy horizon…

…we saw a boulder of molten, burning rock flinging towards us.

After a stunned silence, Sullivan was the one shouting louder than he ever had before. "FIND COVER!"

Everyone ran towards the back of the ship, barely escaping as the gigantic projectile hit the front of the airship. It was completely obliterated and the fire quickly ate its way into the wood. Immediately the researchers we had on board came up to the deck to throw buckets of water onto the fire. But it just kept popping up again.

Chaos ensued.

We turned the ship to guide it behind the mountains for cover, fearful that there might be another attack like that.

In the distance, something parted the misty clouds and something the size of a mountain pierced through the fog. Nobody was able to identify what it was, but it was moving and heading towards us.

I ducked behind the main mast as the other recruits went beneath deck. And then I heard it again.

"Another one incoming!"

I peeked out from behind the mast and indeed another smoking rock arched through the sky. And worst of all… towards me.

I run for my life, huffing and wheezing from the suffocating smoke. But I couldn't reach the stairs in time. Even though I don't think that would've kept me safe for long either.

I felt the impact of the rock behind me. The wave of it launched me into the air as I was running away…

…and I was launched off the ship.

I saw the ground disappear beneath me, knowing that I would not fall onto the ship again and instead into the foggy abyss.

I screamed my lungs out as I fell. Everything in front of my eyes turned grey as I fell through the clouds.

After that layer of fog, I fell with my back first and couldn't see what was underneath. All until I felt myself breaking through leaves and sticks into some kind of foliage.

Scratches and whips hit my back as I just kept falling and falling, slower and slower. Until Suddenly, I stopped. My legs, back and arms were caught by a bed of vines. I looked up at the hole I put through whatever tree this was and through it, I could barely see the airship as it disappeared behind the fog again.

My entire system shut down. My heart, my body and my nerves were completely burnt out and I fell unconscious in the vines.


	3. Survival of the fittest

Blurry. Everything was so blurry. I could barely keep my eyes open, let alone feel my body. Everything was numb and a sizzling feeling went through my muscles.

I felt like I was going to vomit, but I kept myself from it. I must've been out for several hours and I was still hanging off a couple of vines that luckily supported my weight. Who knew if there was even ground underneath me.

As my vision cleared, I saw the leaves rustling and the whole that I fell in through was no longer in the treetop.

I put my energy together and tried to pull myself up straight when I noticed that my leg was stuck on something.

I propped my upper body up, wanting to set my foot free by hand, but when I did, I didn't see vines holding me back. Instead, a pair of golden, slim, reptilian eyes.

I bore my shock in silence as I watched this huge, yellow and green wyvern thoughtlessly chewing on my leg. It seemed to not bite with its small teeth so I only felt the gums clench down on me. It was clearly trying to tug at me and not to rip a piece off of me.

It was so focused on pulling me, it didn't even notice that I was awake. I used the opportunity to get a good look at this monster. Even back home, I've never seen any creature like this one. It was quadrupedal and its scaly skin was a yolky yellow on the back and grey-ish blue on the underside. The skin of its belly seemed less sturdy, thinner and looser than the one on the top of it where most of the tough scales were overcovered with a leafy, mane-like… I don't know what to call it. Fur?

A long tail stretched out from its lower back and its head was like that of a supersized lizard with a blank, straight stare ahead.

"Grrrggh…" It seemed frustrated. I was dangling from the vines but the sturdy fiber didn't rip even in the slightest and there was no chance that this monster would get me down from this angle.

I was hovering over another layer of vines that seemed strong enough for the wyvern to stand on. It was part of a gigantic tree that loomed over a green beach area underneath.

I kept quiet, swallowing my breath. I raised my hand over my head, reaching for the blades on my back and slowly, but surely trying to launch a surprise attack.

But the very second my blades made a scratching sound from unsheathing, the beast's eyes shot to attention and with my boot in its mouth, it looked up at me, its gaze confused and curious.

I swung there, a leg full of saliva and my weapons barely out of their sheaths. "Umm… having an afternoon snack huh? Well, I can't really recommend you eat me so…"

"Raaahhhhhh!" It opened its jaw wide, letting out a bellowing roar. It was mad and ready to attack me.

I fumbled to get my swords out and as awkward as it was, I flailed around, slashing the vines that held me up. After one after the other snapped away, I fell down onto the bed of thicker vines with the monster finishing its roar with its head stretched towards the skies. After focusing its sights back on me, I could see the spit dripping from its tongue. It was hungry and not ready to let its snack get away.

I pushed myself backwards with my feet until I hit an upwards stretching vine on which I pulled myself up to my feet, brandishing my sharp blades.

The monster's head was erratic, inspecting me from head to toe, deciding whether or not it should attack me.

I decide to take on an offensive stance and point the tips of my swords at it. "If you want to eat me that badly… bring it." I demanded as I trembled in fear of my first proper monster. Sweat crossed my forehead and my legs were twitching to get away, but I could hardly back down now.

But it didn't care for my fear, only for its hunger. It clawed into the vines for grip and dashed towards me, with its fangs wide open to give me a view of the bottomless pit that was its mouth.

Blood rushed into my muscles and I reflexively jumped out of the way. The wyvern crashed into the vine that I just pulled myself up on. Its teeth dig into it, leaving a bitemark as it notices that it's not me. Its gaze flicked over to me as its teeth unlatched from the vine.

Another attack was imminent and if I didn't act immediately and got on the offense, it would eventually get me. I try to get an advantage on this beast as I look around for options. And there it was. The vines connected seamlessly to the trunk of the tree where a large batch of mushrooms grew. If they were sturdy enough, I could run up them and maybe gain enough altitude to mount this thing.

I put the plan into action immediately and tempted the monster to chase me closer to the tree in another brute charge. Its jaw shuts and opens with its movements as it waddles after me with surprising speed. I ran towards the wall of hard mushrooms which make it very easy to perform an upwards wall run.

I pushed myself off the ragged trunk as the monster crashed into the tree. The perfect opportunity to mount it.

"AAHHHHH!" I lunge down onto it with my swords piercing its hide and I tighten my grip on them to keep from falling off its back. The wyvern screamed at the sudden pain and thrashed about to shake me off. I gritted my teeth as I repeatedly rammed my blades into it one after the other, again and again.

The wyvern would not give up though, trying to crane its neck to bite onto some part of me. I thought I could finish it off right then and there, but then the monster seemed to have gotten an idea. It ran towards the same wall of mushroom and just threw its body against it. I got to experience the now familiar feeling of getting flung through the air once again and the bed of vines wobbled as I landed on top of it. We must have loosened it with our fighting and I was certain that if we kept this up, the only way we're going from there, is down. And this time, there would be no vines to catch my fall.

I tried to look for a way out, but with the wyvern blocking the only escape, I had no choice but to end this. It breathed heavily with the slam having knocked the air out of its lungs and its wounds clearly doing a number on it.

I feel around the ground, not even breaking eye contact with the wyvern out of fear of the next attack. I finally felt the grips of my blades just in time as the beast launched another, desperate and frustrated attack on me. It jumped towards me though it must have used more force than needed since instead of onto me, it jumped overhead of me. I jabbed my blades up into it, wanting to slice it open and finally finish it off. And my blades glided right through its belly from its throat all the way down to the beginning of its tail. Or did it…

I felt no physical resistance from its flesh, let alone its skin. It was like my blades were ethereal and didn't even make contact although I could see them sticking into the monster. There were no gashes either, no guts, nothing. My weapons left no scars on it.

And yet… when I lied there in fear, worrying that it would just turn around and attack again… instead of doing that… it landed limply and collapsed. And then it was lying there. Lifeless.

My heart was beating out of my chest and my entire body was covered in panicked sweat underneath my leather armor. I won this fight by the skin of my teeth.

I slowly but surely get back on my feet, sheathing my blades as I look over the corpse of my first slain monster. I walked over to it, still out of breath.

I had no idea how to feel. I felt pride, but also guilt for killing this creature. I tried to justify it as a necessary action to survive but at the same time I questioned if there would've been another option. Well… it was too late now. I had killed my first monster as a novice hunter.

I paid my respects, wanting to make a memory I would never forget by gently stroking the monster's head. But then I felt something on my hand that I didn't expect or hoped to feel. Its breath.

Just as I wanted to get away from it, I heard something tearing. The fiber of the vine that the wyvern bit earlier was slowly losing its sturdiness and with the combined weight of the two of us on one spot, it was ripping.

I couldn't even run or scream before the bed of vines broke off the tree and me and the monster fell towards the foot of the tree. I flailed my arms, seeing the ground coming closer and closer when suddenly, the slinger on my arm went off and shot something like a bolt. A bolt with a rope attached to it.

"This thing has a grappling hook?!" I yelled to myself as said grappling hook arched through the air until it wrapped around a thick branch close to the ground and pulled me towards it. I swung from side to side as I heard the heavy thud of the other creature that fell down with me impact the ground. I tried to control my swinging, making an effort to see if the monster took any damage.

I hung there, dangling off the branch with my outstretched arm, and hit onto the slinger several times to get it loose. "How do I… *huff* get this thing off?!"

Suddenly, I must've triggered some mechanism and the grappling hook unlatched itself from the branch and the rope reeled in again, letting me get down onto the ground safely.

I turned around, finally seeing the wyvern lying in the gravel. I watched as the bed of vines we were standing on came falling down slowly until it landed on top of it like a net.

It was almost peaceful, like a sleeping child being tucked into a thick blanket. I wasn't sure whether the wyvern was dead or not and a part of me was hoping for the latter.

But whether or not it was, there was something happening underneath those vines. They were rustling and cracking and the bump of the monster's shape somehow shrunk in size.

"What the hell?" I wondered to myself as I carefully approached the slowly shrinking pile of vines. I was too curious for my own good and shoved the branches aside, digging into this pile. I shredded the fiber with my blades and tried to untangle this thick mess until I reached the creature. If I was lucky, I could set it free and maybe we can go our separate ways.

I could see the yellowy hide through the shrub and with that motivation I cleaned up the rest of the brush, uncovering what was underneath.

I was stunned…

My mouth hung open and my movements became almost nonexistent.

On the ground laid the entire hide of the wyvern. It was hollow like it shed its skin completely in one whole piece. Separate scales were scattered over the floor and the hair it had before had completely detached from the hide.

The most unexpected sight of all though…

… was the limp body of a woman.

She had a tall body, naked and strongly defined. She was curvy with thick, strong thighs and a bountiful chest. Her hair was blonde and unkempt but long and voluminous with some sort of dreads in them. Her overall look seemed almost tribal. But what was the most striking was that her arms and legs ended in reptilian claws with her human skin transitioning into yellowy scales from her elbows and knees downwards.

I leaned down and opened her eyelids carefully. They were the same, narrow, reptilian golden eyes I saw on the wyvern before.

"But… it can't be… it can't be…" I looked at her body in silence. With her arms and legs covering her private areas, I didn't see anything I wasn't supposed to. I just didn't know what to do.

I looked around.

To the left was a path that led to the beach where I could see some Aptonoth roaming around. At least those were some monsters I knew.

And to the right was a deep jungle full of bugs flying around and who-knows-what lurking in the shadows.

Well, it was obvious which was the more pleasant choice… and then it started raining. Heavily. Under the cover of the gigantic tree, we were shielded from it, but even the Aptonoth out on the beach disappeared into the brush as a rainstorm started to kick into gear.

My face slumped into a complete deadpan expression. "This day really hates me, doesn't it?"

I looked down at the woman. She was breathing. Snoring even. She looked calm and peaceful. At least one of us could keep calm.

I ran my hands through my hair as I looked around once more. I found a patch of a plant with huge leaves and cut long straps out of it I fashioned some sort of wraps out of them and carefully wrapped them around the woman's bust and hips, just to provide some cover.

There was no way I could just leave her lying here.

I shoved my hands underneath her body and picked her up. She was heavy, but still manageable to carry.

Obviously, a break at the beach would've been what I needed right now, but with the storm picking up and the wind howling wildly, the only way was deeper into the forest.

The woman breathed peacefully in my arms and at that moment, I didn't care what she was. I had to find shelter for us.

And so I gulped and made my way into the thicket. Straight into almost certain death. Something told me that wyvern wasn't the apex predator here. Or at least not the only one. Well, it's not the most dangerous thing I survived today.


	4. A rough night

I couldn't hear her snoring anymore over the crackling of the little campfire I built. This woman, whether she actually was the wyvern I fought or not, managed to be really loud while she was asleep.

I found us shelter underneath a roof of thick leaves inside of the deeper jungle, hoping that at least in a stormy night like this one, the other monsters would keep to their nests and not bother with us.

Even though I shouldn't, I had enough stress for one day and tried to regain my stamina by kicking up my feet and relaxing near the fire.

I looked over at my newly found 'friend' who was wrapped in a blanket of thinner vines and greenery. Her head was turned my way as her eyes trembled restlessly under her eyelids. She was close enough to the fire to not get cold but I was still worried she might have kept some wounds from our fight. If she really is what I believe she is.

She just kept rolling in her sleep and mumbling inaudible ramblings to herself. I sighed, got off my seat and checked up on the sleeping beauty.

Crouching over her, I notice that she's drooling and her hair was bundling up from her constant rolling around. I tried to get a good look at her, trying to use the light of the flickering light of the fire while not blocking it with my body.

I ended up in a position where I knelt by her side while leaning my head towards hers.

Her lips were twitching and just by looking at her, I could tell she was having either a bad dream or at least she was fighting something in her mind. The skin on her face was riddled with smaller and broader light scars. Whatever happened before I arrived here, she sure has gotten quite a beating. What if she really was who I think she is? What if I just added to someone who already suffered enough pain.

I pondered to myself as I watched her. The least I could do now was take care of her. My hand almost magnetically found its way to her head, combing through her hair to get it somewhat straight. It was pretty coarse and clumped but the touch of it actually felt kind of nice.

I smiled to myself as I watched her sleeping face crack a small and more relaxed smile.

When I set out to become an ace hunter, I prepared myself to discover a love/hate kind of relationship with the monsters I hunt. Hating them for the troubles and pain that they caused but appreciating them for their role in the ecosystem. Some monsters could very much destroy this world if they felt like it.

With this girl though, I couldnt't imagine her intentionally harming someone.

When my dad and I moved to the countryside, isolated from many of the larger civilizations, my social life really suffered. I've never talked, let alone had a relationship with any girls. Maybe it was one of the reasons I looked forward to talking to this one. How awkward it would be when I actually had to talk to the girl I just stabbed a few hours ago? I had no idea.

I would have to suck it up, I guess.

I got back up to my feet, deciding that I should let her rest for a little bit.

"Ngghhh…" Until I heard her grumbling out of her sleep.

As it actually happened, my heart started beating fast. I was nervous and uncertain which angle I should take when initiating a conversation with her.

I bit down on my lip and steeled myself as I once again turned around to her. Indeed, her eyes flickered open, needing some time to adjust. Even in the dark, I could clearly see her shimmering, golden irises as they narrowed and opened to adjust to the light.

I knelt down, awkwardly rubbing my neck. She didn't seem to notice me yet but I hoped she could at least hear me. "Are you umm… feeling okay."

She perked up when she heard my voice and turned her face upwards to look at me. Her eyes glared at me and she almost seemed to hiss at me. "You…" She groaned angrily.

"Yeah… me…" I knew this didn't bode well.

"What happened..." She tried to get up by herself when her sides began to sting and she held them in pain even though there were hardly any visible wounds there. Maybe it was more of a phantom pain carried over from her former body just like her scars. She collapsed onto the mat of greenery as she inspected her now smaller and more human-like arms.

"What happened to me?" She was still weak and just barely managed to wring the words out.

"Trust me, I wish I could give you a better answer other than stating the obvious."

"You understand me?" She didn't even seem that surprised, she was just trying to make sure when she asked me.

"Well, you speak my language it seems. So yeah, I… understand you."

"Does that mean I'm human now?"

"At least partly it seems. I…I don't exactly know how this is possible either."

Seemingly having regained more strength in her body, she sat up and knelt down across from me. "Well, your kind seems to have strong fighters, so I won't complain too much about being turned into one of them." She somewhat seemed to have coped with her transition and even chuckled at the pure prospect. "You must be an ace hunter if you managed to defeat someone like me." She proclaimed proudly as she faced me and pumped a determined fist.

I hissed in uncomfortableness. "Actually, I just started out today. I've… never fought a monster before that."

In seconds, her proud face slumped and the color left her face. "Seriously?"

"Uhh, yeah. But I guess I just got… lucky."

She faced the ground, tears dropping onto the already wet ground. "Defeated by a noob hunter. It can't be! I'm a goddamn warrior!"

"Huh?" I was stunned by her sudden outburst. "What's the matter?"

Her crying got stronger and stronger as she pounded the ground with her fist. Her punch was strong enough that some of the wet mud even splattered onto me. "Every other damn monster in this forest already uses me for a punching bag! And now even a scrawny little human like you can defeat me?!"

My heart sunk. I had no idea how to respond to her except for staying silent. I waited for her to have cried herself out, but she just gritted her teeth and continued to be angry at herself.

I struggled to decide on which way to tackle this. "What's your name?" I asked as I tried to break the silence between us and the gloom still hung around her.

"Name? What do you mean?" She grumbled as she wiped the remains of her tears from her cheeks.

"Your name. How do people call you?"

"People don't usually call out to me, you know?"

"Right, stupid question…" I sighed and tried to get a little closer to her. She didn't even react to it as she sat there, dejectedly hugging her knees and blankly looking straight ahead. "Well, how do you call yourself then?" I asked carefully.

"I'm nobody… I don't really need a name. Is that something your people really need to have? A name to call someone by?"

"It certainly makes talking to them a lot more easy." I joked around, but she wasn't having it. "Look, if it's bothering you that much that I defeated you, don't take it too personally. It had nothing to do with strength. I mean look at me, I'm pretty much a stick figure." I said as I lifted my arm to flex what little muscle I had.

She glared over at me, looking like she'd be ready to lunge at me any second. "What was it then? If it's not strength that helps a fighter win a battle, then what is?"

"Like I said, it was pure luck. Compared to most other men, I'm a lightweight. I don't think I'd win anything if it came down to strength."

"You're on!" Suddenly a burst of determination flared in her eyes.

"What?"

"How do you humans compete with strength?"

"Umm… arm wrestling I guess?" I stuttered as I scrambled for a response.

"Great! How do you do it? Show me!" She was hungering for a revanche, her face determined and… even a bit scary.

"Well, you do it like this… I guess." I moved over to a ragged stump of a tree and put my elbow onto it, signaling her to do the same. Confused she put her own elbow on the other side and, after I instructed her to, clenched her claws around my hand. Even her grip alone could've gotten me to give in, but I put on a brave face and bore it.

"Al… ngghh… right, now the goal is to press the other's hand down onto the surface using nothing but your arm's strength."

"That's it?"

"I never said it was a complicated competition. Amongst equally strong people it's pretty exciting." I shrugged.

"Well, then we should be a good match, right?" She licked her lips as her grip tightened even more around my hand.

"Ack! Alright, on the count of 3. 1…2…3…" I pushed against her claw as hard as I could, gritting my teeth as I struggled to even keep the middle ground. My face was scrunched and I was actually surprised that I was still holding up…

…until I noticed that she showed no sign of a struggle and cocked her head in confusion until it lit up in understanding. "Ohhh! Was that what 3 meant. Sorry, I didn't know."

"Huh?" Was the last thing I could get out until my hand was effortlessly slammed onto the tree stump. It was at such a rapid speed that the pain only set in a few moments later when I bit down on my other hand's glove. "Ngghghhh! God that hurt! Fuck!" I pulled my hand from her claw and shook it around to distract from the pain. "Ahh that's gonna sting for a while. Nghhh."

She bursted out into laughter and slammed her hand onto the stump repeatedly as she tried to regain her breath. "Haha, you really were serious! You have the arm strength of a child."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in, will you?" I hissed as I stretched my fingers to see if they were still working alright. As the pain settled a little, I tried to attempt a bit more conversation with her again. "So, how am I gonna call you from now on, oh grand and powerful warrior?" I joked as I felt the atmosphere between us loosen a little.

She put a finger to her chin and still smiled from the remainder of her laughter. "Let's see. A winner needs a title, right?" Well, I listened to the humans who came through here before. They were looking for something and I think they were calling me something called a Great Jagras. It has the word "great" in it, so they had to be talking about me." She pointed her thumb at herself proudly. I was just glad she was in a way better mood.

I smiled at her and extended my better hand to her. Great Jagras, huh? That's a bit of a mouthful. How about I call you Jaina? That sound alright with you?"

She smiled back and behind her brutish attitude her simple, genuine smile was actually really cute. Her hand met mine with a loud slap. "Great Jaina then. It would kind of suck to take the great part out of it."

I chuckled "I'll think about it. Wait, did you say you've met humans around here before?"

She raised an eyebrow as if it was something obvious. "Well, yeah. They have a settlement not far from here. I thought you were with them?"

"What!? No, but that's where I need to go! I need to tell them about…" I dashed to get up, before Jaina pulled on my sleeve to keep me from going.

As I turned around, she shook her head. "Don't do that!"

"Why? I need to get back ASAP!"

"Not at night, you dummy! You wake up the wrong monster around here or you stumble somewhere you're not supposed to be at and they'll eat you alive!"

I looked into the darkness, not knowing what would expect me inside it. It would be too brash and idiotic to head out like that. Especially since I had no clear direction to where the settlement was. "*sigh* Maybe you're right. I'll camp out here tonight."

I reluctantly turned away from the direction the research commission was possibly located at and went back to sit at the fire and stare at the flames. I looked up at Jaina who soon sat down a bit next to me and smiled at me.

"You know, you don't need to stick around me. If you feel better, you can leave any time. I'll manage."

She shimmied a little closer and, almost like a friend, bumped my shoulder playfully with hers. "You think I'd just leave you alone out here? After you took care of me and got my mood up again?"

"Heh, should I remind you, that I was the one who caused your wounds in the first place?"

"Yeah, but you're not the first one to give me scars." She said dejectedly as she showed me her arms, legs and belly. Each of them were covered in gashes and scratches on her human skin as well as in her scale hide. The wounds I caused her were actually on the smaller side compared to the larger ones that stretched across her torso. But those wounds still looked different and seemed to have various, different causes other than cuts.

"Where did you get those from?"

Her gaze turned towards the fire again as she began talking with a sad undertone in her voice. "You… heard me say it before, didn't you? I'm everyone's punching bag around here. I can't breathe fire, spit poison or shoot lightning." She turned to me, her eyes dewy and small droplets reflecting light in the edges of her eyes. "My strength is all I have to fend for myself. All you can do when you're down, is getting up again over and over."

I looked her in the eyes, seeing the hopelessness and struggle behind it. "You're right there. You have to. Again and again. No matter how much is stacked against you."

"What?" Her face perked up a little when I spoke. Her words resonated with me and I understood her mentality.

"Heh, you've seen it first-hand. Everybody who I told that I wanted to become a hunter, said I was insane. I was too weak, too brash and tried way too hard to prove myself. I was so stubborn and I wanted to succeed so badly. The only thing I had going for me was that I was quick and agile. But that could only get me so far. Everyone saw me as a weakling, someone who could never stand up to a monster. And I guess out of stubbornness again… that's why I'm here. To prove them wrong. And no matter how many times I'm going to be beaten down, kicked and belittled, I'll have to suck it up and be stronger the next time." I spoke silently, trying to suppress the sadness as I stoked the flames.

Jaina shimmied even closer to me and listened to me speak as we were pressed arm to arm. A slight cold emanated from her, probably because she was cold-blooded, but somehow it was a rather comforting cold and it made me feel appreciative of having her close to me. "You know… often times the support you need has to come from yourself."

"It doesn't have to be JUST yourself." She said as she lightly nudged me so I would look at her. I was met with a sweet smile that almost made you forget about how tough she was. "Welcome at the bottom of the food chain... hmmm"

"What?"

"Hehe, you haven't told me your name yet, dummy. For someone who put so much importance on it, you sure don't follow your own rules."

I chuckled along with her as she wrapped her arms around mine, making me kind of flustered. I could feel her significantly large breasts squeeze against me from the side and awkwardly turned away to hide my blushing face. "Kalaydus. It's… Kalaydus."

She nodded as she rested her head on my shoulder and started to slowly get tired. "*yawn* You should probably get some rest too if we want to get up before the other monsters do. I'll guide you to the settlement."

We leaned against the root of the giant tree as Jaina still clung to my side and rested her head on me. "Like… this? Are you sure?" I stuttered as I could still feel the squishiness of her supple breasts. The wraps that contained them were stretched rather thin and I was almost hoping that they wouldn't hold out. I am just a guy after all.

"We don't know how long this fire is going to last. We need to keep each other warm until morning."

"Yeah but…"

Her arms squeezed tighter around me as she nuzzled my shoulder. "And it's not exactly uncomfortable either." My argument was cut off by her last words as she closed her reptilian eyes and started to softly snore. Even though her skin was a bit cold, her breath that tickled my neck was nice and warm. I looked down at her sleeping face with my arm tucked underneath her. I found myself smiling to myself as I watched her. Just like before, seeing her so calm, made me relax as well. I moved my arm a little to not have it cramped in the morning and wrapped it around her back to hold her close.

I couldn't deny that the feeling of having her sleep on top of me was a very pleasant one.

I knew this was just the very start of whatever was ahead of me. And maybe with a companion like her, this challenge will be a lot easier to overcome.


	5. Keep your enemies closer

It wasn't even halfway through the night when I woke up. The chirping of grasshoppers filled the silence. I uncomfortably shifted from side to side, my back aching from the uncomfortable surface of the roots I've been sleeping on.

Only after I got up and stretched, I noticed that something was off. The fact that I could sit up at all should have been enough to make me aware of it. Jaina wasn't by my side anymore.

I looked around for any trace of her, but the only thing I saw were the remains of the fire that only glowed dimly.

I called out into the darkness. "Jaina? Jaina?!"

"Raraarawawa!" My voice rustled the hidden creatures in the forest and I immediately pressed my hand on my mouth until the ruckus calmed down again and only the crickets chirped again.

I swallowed my breath, getting up as quietly as I could and setting out to find out where she went.

The darkness was suffocating and I could barely see a few feet ahead before my eyes adjusted.

I kept to the ground, feeling through the mud to see if Jaina left any traces and indeed there was a series of clawed footprints heading towards the beach.

Carefully tracing them, I arrived at the glistening, gentle ocean that reflected the beaming moonlight. By night the shoreline made for a beautiful vista, with soft waves rolling over the sand and their sounds mixing with the clacking of helm crabs crawling over the larger rocks.

But on the ridge of one of these rocks sat not one of them, but Jaina with her arms behind her back, leaning on the rock's surface while gazing at the moon.

The weight that fell off my chest when I saw her was indescribable.

The moment I looked at her illuminated figure I noticed that it was the first time I had seen her from the back and I only now realized that she had a tail growing from her lower back. If you ignored that along with her arms that turned into claws halfway, you could almost think she was just a young woman lounging at the beach.

As my eyes focused on her tail, I inevitably traced its length up to her plump, flattened butt, covered in the wraps I made for her but stretching enough for the outlines of her rear to be perfectly visible. I wanted to pull my eyes away but it was only a little part of her, as I only then realized how great her body is. Her back curves in a smooth hourglass figure. I found myself staring at her for several seconds before I could chase the thoughts away and approached her.

"So much for sleeping through the night so we can get up early, huh?"

She perked up, her claws twitching and digging into the rock before she turned around. "Oh, Kalaydus. You should be sleeping right now."

"So should you." I responded as I calmly took a seat next to her as we looked out onto the ocean.

Jaina moved her claw up in front of her face, clenching and releasing it over and over like she was trying to get used to it.

"Weird night, isn't it?"

She nodded, still focusing on her arm. "I thought I could just brush it off like it's nothing but it… feels so weird."

"If it counts for anything, I'm sorry I roped you into this."

She turned towards me, surprisingly bearing a soft, melancholic smile. "It's not that bad. It's a chance to… oh… forget it." She said as scraped her feet through the crunching sand.

"A chance to get out of here?" I asked carefully.

"Maybe…"

We sat there in silence as Jaina kept staring at the sand. I looked over at her before turning my gaze up at the night sky. "At least the nights here are pretty, aren't they?"

A slight smile crossed her face as she turned her eyes upwards. "They sure are."

We both gazed at the clear skies, taking in the stars as we would only have a few more hours until the sun would come up. The atmosphere was just so calming that… we didn't care if the hours just melted away.

"Who needs sleep anyways." I whispered under my breath, but in the quiet of the night, Jaina could understand me clearly.

"Yeah… you're missing too much of the beauty."

I found myself looking at her, smiling as I unintentionally started staring at her from the side.

She noticed soon and smirked. "You're not even looking at the sky anymore."

I chuckled awkwardly. "I'm aware… sorry, I didn't want to stare. Pretend it didn't happen." I waved her off as I wanted to turn away, but instead she touched my cheek and made me look at her again with her bearing a curious smile.

"Tell me, how do you think I'm doing looks-wise… compared to the females of your kind?" It was impressive how she could gently touch me like that, given that she had scaled claws for hands.

"I… I haven't really met many girls in my life. But even so, you look… amazing."

She bit her lip as she started to toy around with my armor. "And what is it exactly that you human males find attractive."

Upon hearing her question, my eyes unconsciously wandered to her voluptuous breasts. They were straining the plant fiber that kept them covered and almost bursting at the seams as they pressed together.

She followed my gaze and used her claws to lift her breasts from below. "These things? Aren't they just teats used to nurture children?"

"That's… one thing they're good for."

She cocked her head in confusion. "What else are they… *yelp*" I stopped her sentence as I could no longer hold back from groping her. The temptation was just too big to resist.

My fingers dug into her skin, squeezing her supple flesh. Jaina's lip hung open and her breath slowly picked up when I started to shove her wraps out of the way. I was entranced, overcome by my lust, and teased her nipples with my fingertips.

"Kalaydus, what are you…" Her face grew red, blushing as my touches unexpectedly caused her pleasure.

"That's the other thing. Men go crazy when they get to do this! Never imagined I'd get to be one of them."

"I… haa… I see why! It feels good to have it done to you too! Press down harder!" She hissed, ordering me to tighten my grip even more.

My hand contorted her breast while I pulled her closer to me with my other hand around her hips. We touched heads as we both were focused on her shapeshifting chest.

When we looked up, we could stare into each other's eyes longingly and our combined breaths were hot as they touched the other's skin.

"Is that what you do before you mate with your partner?" She whispered huskily.

"One of the things. There is so much more."

"Like what?" Her curiosity was peaked and she was leaning towards me, asking for more ways that we could make each other feel good.

I lifted her chin a little, making it level with mine. "Open your mouth a little."

Her lips slowly parted with her uncertain, gasping breath escaping them. I overlapped them with my own and started sucking on them as her eyes fluttered open. As if steadying herself from the new sense of stimulation, I could feel her left claw holding onto the back of my head while she put the other on my right leg.

She pulled back for a second, touching her lips in bewilderment. "What... What was that?" She muttered, sounding like she was still in a daze.

"It'scalled kissing. It's how we show our affection for someone else. Especially when we long for someone." I explained to her, caressing her body.

With her lips trembling, I could see that she wanted more of this and sure enough she pushed herself against me and returned the clumsy kiss.

Our saliva mixed and for the first time I got to realize that she had a forked tongue as it snaked around mine almost instinctively.

I was shocked at first, even though I should have expected it, but I soon found myself embracing it and not caring anymore. I felt the excitement growing in my crotch and just as a noticeable bulge formed underneath the leather, Jaina's claw that was previously on my leg slid down onto my crotch applying pressure to it as she rubbed it with her palm.

In surprise, I popped off her lips, pulling a string of saliva between us as I gasped for air with hot breath.

She smiled while her chest was heaving. I could even feel her heart beat through my hand that was still kneading the springy breast. "I just assumed this is where your… thing would be. And I thought I should go for it. It does feel good when I grope this as well, doesn't it?" She circled her tongue around her lips, scooping up our mixed spit and swallowing it.

My dick perked up, twitching as it pushed against her claw. "It definitely did its job."

"Can I see it? I really want to know what yours looks like." Her eyes were fixated on the bulge underneath her claw. She gently kept squeezing, stroking my cock and balls.

I nodded, unbuckling my armor. I dropped the entire set of leather at once while I was already at it, shedding myself of my blades, coat and greaves. All that was left were the gauntlets on my hands and lower arms, leaving me exposed to the cool night air.

My stiff cock stood up valiantly, with Jaina breaking from our groping embrace and instead kneeling down to look at it. The bridge of her nose and her cheeks were flushing with red as she returned to stroking my now bare-naked member with her sliding, scaly clawed hand. It was already as hard as it could be and the touch of her cold scales sent shivers of pleasure through me.

Slowly, I could feel her hand close around me, properly starting to jerk it. Her breath tickled my reddening, swelling tip as her claws were surprisingly doing a great job at giving me pleasure. Her scales were unexpectedly smooth and easily glided over my length as the slowly pouring precum started to make them stickier and stickier.

I let out panting breaths as I watched my cock get serviced by her with a curious and aroused look on her face. It was as if she was pondering over something in her head and I would soon find out what it was.

Her lips popped open with her hot spit parting between them before she took the tip of my member into her slippery wet mouth. There were even wafts of steam puffing up from her hot breath hitting the cold air.

"G…Ghaaaahh, Jaina! Fuuuuck…" I hissed as her tongue danced along the ridge of my tip. With her forked tongue, she licked all along the thick veins before she popped off, leaving with a kiss. She inquiringly looked up at me and when she saw what a sweating, panting mess she made of me, she smirked with an almost menacingly innocent smile.

"I knew you would love that." She chuckled with a smile so sweet and it showed me just how proud she was of figuring it out herself. She swiftly got back to sucking me off, slurping, messy sounds ringing out between her mouth and my cock.

I laid my gloved hand on the back of her head, the enjoyment of her fellatio overtaking my mind completely. I dug my fingers into her messy hair, getting a grip on it to guide her bobbing head.

She cocked and swerved her head in ways that pushed my cock against the inside of her cheeks and her gums. The soft, moisture of her mouth was enough to get me close to the edge of orgasm.

I panted, pushing her head onto my cock as rapidly as I could without hurting her. I could see in her flinching eyes that she felt my cock getting thicker and pulsing harder but she wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Swallow it!" I moan out, ripping her out of her inner struggle. "If you can… swallow all of it!"

"*suck* Mhmm!" She nodded with my dick still in their mouth. She shut her eyes expecting the load to shoot out any second.

"Right about… there! Nghghaahhhh! Haahhhh…" Her mouth closed about halfway down my shaft as her cheeks slowly puffed out a little. My load was surprisingly plentiful and it took a little while before it was all done.

I thought I had to take care of Jaina and tell her to take it slow when gulping my cum… but just as her cheeks were filling more and more, she just made one strong gulp before I watched a bump traversing down her throat.

I looked on in astonishment as the remaining white spurts of sperm covered her tongue and lips when she opened her emptied mouth.

"It wasn't… *pant* as hard as I thought.

I was just stunned as I looked at her. "You really swallowed it all. I didn't think you'd actually do that on your first time.

She smirked up at me but somewhere behind her smile was some disappointment. "What can I say, I'm a glutton for certain things." She prodded my still erect penis and sighed a little. "Usually you're supposed to shoot your stuff into me for making babies… but now we wasted it on my mouth. Aren't you disappointed?"

I almost broke out laughing. "You thought there would only be one load and I'm done?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that usual for males? It's just supposed to fertilize me and then you move on. *yelp*" She squeaked in surprise as I pulled her up onto my lap. Her eyes widened when she felt my still hard cock sandwiched between her ass cheeks and prodding the underside of her tail.

"Not with human males, Jaina. You won't get away with just this." I hooded my eyes and mischievously smiled as I ran my hand through her dirty blonde hair.

Her eyes widened as I pressed my lips against hers and lifted up her hips. Her entire body experienced a little jolt of pleasure when the head of my cock prodded her burning hot pussy. Her reptilian eyes grew foggy and hooded as she leaned into the kiss with her claws crossing behind my back and around my neck. Her entire body rested on me and I had to admit it was pretty heavy, not that I could show how hard it was for me to lift her.

Her dewy eyes met with mine and our shared body heat met its apex when her hips slowly sunk down. My cock parted her folds, slowly embedding itself inside the confines of her hot love tunnel. "Kalaydus…" She muttered quietly, her eyes shining bright in the darkness.

With an audible thud, her crotch connected with mine and with our bodies entangled we started to grind against each other. Jaina's insides squirmed around me, meeting the impatient twitching of my throbbing cock.

Our tongues met outside of our mouths since we could no longer hold them closed with our pants and moans escaping our lips relentlessly. We just couldn't stop letting out our voices. Thankfully out here on the beach we were far enough away from the jungle to not rouse up any other monsters and what little sound could be heard from a distance just blended in with the sound of the waves.

I felt Jaina's claws digging into my back and I probably already had a few red scratchmarks spreading across it. I could ignore the pain since it was outweighed massively by the thrusting of our hips and the pleasure it gave me. Our skin glistened in the moonlight with our sweat reflecting it. The stickiness between us only added to the sensation.

My hands found their way onto her bouncing ass cheeks and I groped them to my heart's content. Jaina's face was twisted in joy and pleasure. Most likely no male before ever focused on giving her pleasure and she was drinking in the attention she received.

When my hands rubbed her ass, one of them kept getting whacked by her scaly tail. I was actually curious enough to move that hand onto her tail and I started stroking it to find out if she was sensitive to it.

She was…

When she felt my hand on her tail, sliding over the slick scales, she started humping me faster and crashing into me with even grander speed. The mixture of juices between us was splashed about, spreading even farther than the stain was when we were fucking normally.

Holding her ass in place, I thrusted into her in short but deep grinding, feeling her cervix kiss the very top of my cock.

Jaina threw her head back, crying out towards the moon. "Kalaydus! I'm cumming! I'm fucking cumming! Nhhahahhhaaaa! Holy shit!"

My cock was already close to bursting and I was actually relieved to hear her say that. I didn't think I could hold back a second longer. "Me too, Jaina! Shit! It's coming!"

With all of our resistance breaking, we embraced almost painfully tight. Jaina's tail waved around, frantically waggling as she reached her orgasm. My jaw tightened as I just exploded inside of her. It felt like a dam broke loose from my cock, spraying her insides with all that I had.

Her claws could probably actually leave scars on my back with how tight she clenched them. Only after several moments were we able to relax again. The space between our crotches was bubbling with overflowing cum that dripped onto the rock.

We inhaled heavily when we tried to regain our breath. I couldn't let go of her, I was too exhausted and she probably felt the same. Her face was buried in my shoulder and even I buried mine in her voluminous hair. It smelled of mud and soil but I still relished the smell since it was hers.

We sat there for quite a while, riding out the aftermath of our climax, before we found us a bit of a more comfortable spot and laid down in the sand with our feet resting just at the edge of the shore where the water could hit them to cool us off.

Jaina was lying by my side, with my arm around her and resting on my chest while we listened to the gentle waves. We still had quite a bit of time until sunrise and no rush to get going.

We got to talking, telling each other about whatever came to our mind. At some point the topic of how she turned came up and I told her as much as I thought I knew.

I dangled the amulet that was attached to my blades over us. "…and I think this is what turned you into a semi-human. I can't explain why it does that but he told me that it would explain why he gave up hunting monsters. I still can't put the puzzle pieces together and it frustrates me to no end."

Jaina looked at it curiously, leaning up towards it and sniffing it. "It reeks of some kind of monster. I can't put my finger on which one though."

"Well, I figured as much. Don't know anything else that would have green scales like this amulet. The question is what's inside this glass container though."

"Blood?"

"Maybe. Probably. But why?"

Jaina reached up, closing my hand so that I would put it away. "Well, we know what it does. For now, I think that's enough to know. There are some mysteries that maybe should keep being what they are."

I smiled at her, tying it to my blade again and tossing it over to my pile of clothes.

"You know, I've been thinking. How about you come to the research commission with me?"

"What?" Jaina perked up and looked at me like I was mad.

"They'd do anything to get any information about this new world. And if it would come from a foreign monster with first-hand experience they'd lose their minds."

"So you're telling me that they would take in someone they've used to hunt down?"

"The commission doesn't do that for just any random monster. Only for those that cause harm or are a threat to them. Maybe if we convince them that you're peaceful, we could make a deal with them."

"Are you serious about that?"

"You want to get out of this forest, right?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then we'll find a way. If it goes down south, I'll cover you."

"Won't you get in trouble?"

"I have no reputation to lose yet. I'll find a way to talk myself out of it and after a while it'll blow over." I promised her as I laid my hand on top of her claw that was resting on my chest.

Her hand intertwined with mine and she nodded up at me. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

"Heh, no, I never do." I chuckled as I kissed the top of her head. My eyes widened when I got pieces of dirt on my lips. I wiped my mouth and spat out a small rock. "But if we DO get there, you really need of a shower."

I was met with a cocky smile and a giggle. "Nah, I never do."


	6. Search for shelter

The following morning was one that I kind of didn't want to come. I was already awake even though my eyes were still heavy. The sun glimmered over the horizon, reflecting its light into my eyes from the surface of the ocean.

Meanwhile, a drooling, semi human wyvern was snoring so loudly that I could feel my eardrums vibrate. "Gods have mercy." I flinched with every time I heard her ear grinding snores.

I rubbed my eyes and decided I had enough. It still seemed somewhat quiet around this time but when I looked some way further down the beach, I could see a herd of Kestodon peck at some crabs and oysters that were swept onto the shore.

The lack of sleep and the remaining exhaustion from last night left me with a pumping headache as the blinding light did nothing to help it go down.

I groaned as I carefully moved Jaina's claw from my bare chest. The moment I touched her claw, memories of last night flashed in front of my eyes and I couldn't keep the blood from rushing to my face in embarrassment. "Right… we did… it." My face slackened when the realization hit me. I straight up had sex with a wyvern. I had no idea how I should feel about this; proud or worried.

I let her hand go as I sat on the edge of the rock we… had sex on. My hands clench around the edge of it and my mind raced with what I should do now and how this was supposed to go from here. I promised her that the research commission would take her in. What was I thinking?! I couldn't make promises like that!

I got up to my feet, shaking my head as I decided to wash off the tiredness first before I would make any further decisions. I knelt down at the edge of the sea where the waves could just reach me.

Looking down at the clear water, it occurred to me that it has been a long time since I had a chance to look at myself. My face reflected on the surface every time the waves swept by. Over time, you tend to kind of forget what you even look like if you don't see it.

My hair was still as black as ever, being held back by the pair of goggles that came with my hunter's armor. "Right, I forgot I even had these." I thought to myself as I took them down and washed the lenses. Despite them being gone, the imprint of them was still left in my hair and it was still spiking backwards and up as it always had. It was of medium length, maybe having grown a little bit longer after the last few days.

I touched my face, noticing that my formerly shaven chin and cheeks had grown a light stubble beard, just enough to see the shadow of it fade in. And lastly, I noticed the light scar on my forehead that I got when a Kelbie kicked me in the head once when I tried to sneak up on it. I was kind of glad the goggles covered it so far. If anyone asked me what I got the only substantial scar I had from, I'd probably embarrass myself to no end.

I took a scoop of water and splashed it into my face. With the water dripping down my chin, I looked over at the Kestodons who seemed to be looking my way. Even though they probably couldn't understand it, I waved them with a friendly smile on my lips. But they weren't looking directly at me and rather a bit behind me.

And I would quickly find out why as a pair of round, fleshy orbs flattened against my back and two claws threw themselves around my neck. The force of the way I got pounced almost made me fall into the water. "Ooof! *cough* Jaina?"

A chipper, energetic voice reached my ear. "What gave it away that it was me?"

"It's not like there are many other naked lizard girls out here… I think…" I chuckled, trying to hide my worries from her. "You sure sound like you slept well." I looked over my shoulder and smiled at her. The smile I got in response was on a whole new level though. It was infectiously endearing.

"The best sleep I've had in a loooong time! I've slept like a rock. I think a certain someone is to thank for that." She chirped, trailing her claws over my chest. I could feel her whole body smother against me from behind and had to be careful not to get excited again.

I craned my neck, only to have my lips pecked at by hers. It still sent a stir through my heart to kiss her but this wasn't the time to give in to temptation. We had to get going soon.

"I didn't expect you to react to my pheromones though." She said with a soft, seductive voice.

"Ph…pheromones?"

"Yeah, you didn't think you were the only one who was aroused, did you? It just happens when a male I like is around."

"Aroused? I wasn't… aroused. Your pheromones must've clouded my mind." I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I recounted everything that we had done together.

"Heheh, you can't weasel yourself out of this one. The pheromones only enhance what was already there. I didn't think they'd have an effect on you like they did. You were pretty… active back there." Her eyes scanned me from head to toe as she visibly enjoyed the sight of my still naked body. I was getting even more flustered than before.

Part of me wanted to write off last night as something that I had no control over, but I had to realize that I had to take responsibility. And honestly, I could hardly say that I didn't love it.

I sighed and let my lips melt into a smile "Guilty as charged. You looked pretty into it yourself."

"That's because I was, silly! None of the other males ever cared whether I felt good or not. But you did…" Her mouth swapped between a cute pout and a flustered smile as her arms tightened around me.

I touched her claw and carefully intertwined it with mine. But then I saw the sun slowly rising even further. I wanted this moment to last a bit longer, but we had to go.

"Jaina, we should really get our bearings now. We're gonna get noticed by the other monsters if we don't hurry."

She reluctantly stepped away, a sulking look on her face. But as she looked around, this sulkiness turned into confusion. I put my old hunter armor back on as hard as it was to do so, but Jaina just kept watching me with a puzzled look. "What am I supposed to wear? The wraps you made me are kind of… well… useless now." She blushed a little as she showed me the torn scraps of plant fiber that once covered her body up.

"Ahh, shit… well there has to be something around. Something more sturdy." I tossed that wraps into the sea as I kept my eyes open for any materials I could scrounge up to make something decent.

Jaina looked at me with a shrug. "I don't get why you need to cover up your body. I feel pretty comfortable in my skin as it is."

And just when she said that, I stopped. "Your skin. Your skin!"

"Yeah, that's what I said…" She said bewildered as I pulled her along by the hand.

"No, not that! Come with me, I need to see if it's still there!" I cried out as I led her back up the slope from the beach to the forest. We were in a hurry, but I can't meet the research commission coming out of the forest alongside a naked, semi human woman. I inspected the surroundings, checking if I could find the spot where Jaina and I had fallen down from when we fought.

And as I finally started to recognize things around me, I found what I was looking for. "Thank the gods, it's still here."

Jaina looked confused as I knelt down next to her old, shed body. It was still in one piece and nothing seemed to have touched it yet. "My old skin? What would you want with that?"

"Something that hunters have done for ages. Carve materials from it." I exclaimed as I pulled out a carving knife that came with my armor. I leaned over the thick, empty hide when I looked up at Jaina. "Do you… think you want to see this? I mean it's your old body after all."

But out of every reaction I expected, she just smirked and shrugged. "I've shed my skin so many times before. It's like a chipped claw to me at this point. Carve away, hunter." She chuckled.

"If you say so." I shrugged back as I started to cut parts from the body that I thought would make for some good clothing. I found that the belly especially was very easy to cut since the skin there wasn't that thick. After carving a diamond shaped patch out of it, I carved up some of the thickened scales from the back as well as the entirety of her old mane.

After cutting a significant chunk of materials from her hide, I piled the parts I collected onto each other and pulled some vines from the nearby trees to hold them together.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to rebuild my old body or something?" Jaina giggled, probably thinking that what I was doing looked weird. And it probably must have been from her point of view.

"No, nrrghhh… but I thought if I was already the one who got you out of your skin…" I grunted as I pulled together the parts, finishing my heavy-handed attempt to form something wearable. "…I should be the one giving it back to you. At least a part of it."

I finally cobbled together a piece of clothing made from the remnants of her scales. It was like a poncho that could cover the most part of her body. At least the parts that needed to be.

Jaina raised her arms as I signaled her to and I threw the poncho over her. The skin of her belly served as the underlying layer while her back scales made up a colorful, yellow overcoat. Her mane on the other hand was shaped into a hood that she could throw over her head before we entered the commission's headquarters.

Jaina's eyes widened as she felt the weight of her old skin again. She nostalgically touched the rim of her old mane and affectionately petted it. "Wow, this feels exactly like being my former self again." She whispered almost inaudibly.

I smiled as I saw her so visibly happy.

"Where did you learn to do this? How did you know how to make clothes like this?"

"I grew up on the countryside. If you don't know how to stitch up stuff there, you might as well go naked."

"That's amazing…" Jaina admired herself in awe and even I had to admit that the poncho made her brutish appearance a whole lot cuter. "But why the hood?"

"We might need to cover you up when we visit the commission."

"But didn't you say…"

"I know what I said, and trust me I'll do anything to get you inside. But if we don't want to scare them immediately, we should keep your identity on the down low at first."

Jaina didn't seem to like the idea at all, but she nodded reluctantly. "Well, I guess if that's how it has to be… Do you really think I'm that scary looking?"

I waved my hands in front of me in denial. "Of course not! Well… I don't. But I've gotten used to who you are; they haven't. Once we're inside, we need to find someone who will react appropriately and not cause alarm. If we convince them that we mean no harm, they'll accept you. I'm sure of it. You trust me, right?" I cupped her claws with my hands and made her look up at me.

She looked to the floor dejectedly but soon after gave me a confident smile and a nod. "Right!"

I smirked back at her as she gave me her hand and I nodded in confidence to reassure her. "Lead the way then. You know where it is, right?"

"I know EXACTLY where it is." She proclaimed proudly.

"What are we waiting for then?" Were the last words before Jaina enthusiastically ran ahead. I followed her to the best of my abilities as she pulled me along by the hand. And off we went.

After pulling me past the beach and through a patch of brush, we finally reached a massive, definitely man-made structure. A gigantic gate made from logs and ropes.

"There it is. I saw humans walking in and out of this thing before. If there's any place that looks like what you're looking for, it's this one." Jaina explained to me as I approached to gate in wonderment. I had finally found the place where I was meant to be.

After I was done admiring the massive structure I turned around to Jaina and gave her a serious look. "Alright, now should be the time for you to put your hood on. Don't worry, you'll be able to show yourself to them in due time. But for now: Slow and steady. Okay?"

"Slow and steady." She repeated to show me that she understood. "But before we have to do that, one more thing…"

"Yeah, and what's that? *smack*" I was taken aback when I felt her pair of lips meet mine. Her soft kiss was filled with a calmness that I could really use right now. I held her shoulders as I returned it and simultaneously pulled her hood over her head before I parted.

"Just a small thank you." She sighed.

I smiled and signaled her to follow me. I once again approached the gate and yelled out for whoever was in charge of it. "Hello?! Anybody there! I'm from the Fourth Fleet! I come to join the Research Commission!"

My cries rang out into the emptiness, but soon after, I heard a ruckus from the other side. "Another Fourth Fleeter coming in! Open the gates!"

With heavy creaks, the palisades began to move, swinging and crackling as they were reeled up. Jaina and I stood before the grand open entrance as a group of 10 men came at us, looking confused. I saw them having satchels of herbs and phials of potions around their belts as they arrived.

One of the men stepped forward, his eyes flicking between me and Jaina. "You're… you're alright?"

I felt around my body, looking for any signals of injuries. "Still in one piece I suppose. Why would you think I wasn't?"

"You… said you were with the Fourth Fleet, didn't you?"

"I am! I fell off the ship when we got attacked by some unknown monster or something! It was huge! Larger than anything I've ever seen or heard about!"

"We're aware…" The man looked back at his men mumbling something among them before he turned back to me with a worried look. "What about her? Is she with the Fourth too?" He asked and looked at Jaina.

"She was the one who guided me here. I met her in the forest and she knew her way around here. Her name is Jaina."

"Never heard of a scout named Jaina in our group. Are you from the First Fleet or something?"

"Umm… I…" Jaina jerked up when she was suddenly put on the spot. She was unrecognizable to the man as he tried to inspect her before I jumped in front of him to get his attention again.

"That's not important right now! What happened to the Fourth?"

The man sighed and looked away again. "You… might want to see for yourself. Follow me to Astera. We'll explain everything there."

The group of men led the way, visibly anxious and confused.

I heard a sigh of relief from behind me as I could basically feel the trembling of Jaina's lips. I reached behind me and carefully took Jaina's hand, making sure that none of the men saw it.

Jaina gulped and followed me as I guided her by the hand and followed the men that led me to my and hopefully OUR new home: Astera


	7. Ready as I'll ever be

When the group of men led the way to Astera, me and Jaina kept holding hands. I could feel that despite her strength, she was still anxious and maybe even scared of the new environment.

I followed the men, many of which were murmuring between each other, though I had no idea if it was about me and Jaina, or something entirely different.

We would only take one more turn past some coastal rock formations before we finally saw it: Astera.

When we got our first view of it, our eyes widened in speechlessness. From the steep bay up to a high mountaintop stretched a huge assortment of wooden mechanisms and walkways. It was a lot to take in at once, but there were a few landmarks that stuck out like a sore thumb even in a sea of things to be amazed by.

An enormous water mill was built underneath a rushing waterfall that kept long chains in motion which were used to transport wares as well as people. The very peak of the mountain this headquarters was built at was an airship, not unlike the one I arrived on. But as I looked closer, I could see that it was donning the sail of the Second Fleet. In fact, the whole camp was made out of broken ships and stranded hulls. The research commission must've scrapped whatever they could make use of and it oddly seemed to work like a well-oiled machine. Even from a distance I could see that the camp was bustling with people.

And even though I've never been here…

…I could tell that it was more hectic than usual.

We approached a huge arch of rib bones that must have belonged to a huge monster. Though whether it was here before or the commission constructed it, I couldn't tell. Past the arch of bones was a sturdy rope bridge. The last thing that separated us from the camp of Astera.

"Here we are. I'd recommend you talk to the commander once you're inside. He'll… have a lot to discuss with you." His eyes intriguingly wandered to Jaina who was still holding my hand but quickly hid her claw in her poncho when the man looked our way.

"Does the commander usually greet newcomers in person?" I asked worriedly.

His brows furrowed and he crossed his arms as he looked at me. "Only the curious ones. If you have nothing to hide, everything will be fine and you can join the hunters just like everyone else who arrives here. You'll be given a task and if you deliver good work, you'll go far here. There's no shortage of work to be done. Especially after…" He looked at the ground, visibly troubled and disturbed.

"After… what?"

He looked back up at me with a serious and saddened look. "Remember when I told you, you would see why we were so confused when we picked you up and you were unhurt?"

"Yeah?"

"Now you will." He said as he signaled me to follow him over the bridge. The ropes and wood were strong but I still couldn't shake the weird fear of falling down with the drop below leading to a deep drop and the waves crashing into the rocky shoreline.

But that fear was a thing of the past when a horror much greater was laid out before me. After crossing the bridge and entering Astera, there were rows and rows of makeshift beds. All filled with men and women from the fourth fleet. I even recognized some of their faces. Several of them were the recruits from my old ship.

The color drained from my face as I heard their cries of pain. My eyes hastily darted around the isles of wounded that were being tended to by researchers and medics that were way too understaffed and underequipped to handle this many people.

Their wounds reached from crippled limbs to large gashes but all of them had something in common: their wounds were steaming and their bodies were feverishly red.

"This is what I meant." The man who guided us explained. "We've been getting newcomers nonstop since yesterday. A big chunk of them came in as a group at first, but even they told us that the rest of the crew from the Fourth Fleet was scattered and nowhere to be found. One after another we got new cases of arrivals with all sorts of injuries to treat. The wounds themselves are one thing… but they all also suffer from fire blight. Usually it would only last a few moments but theirs doesn't seem to end. They're burning up inside and every bit of movement gives them excruciating pain. And here you came along. Not even as much as a scar on you. Do you understand now why we need to question you?" He said as he presented us the extend of the aftermath that the attack on our ship had.

Sweat was running down my forehead and even Jaina seemed to be distraught by the sight of the trembling victims.

I ran up to one of the beds, falling onto my knees next to one of the wounded. "You! I've seen you on the ship before! Do you remember our mentor? Sullivan? Where is he? What happened?!"

"GAAAGGHHH! You…you're that rookie that came with us, aren't you? Brrghghhh! I was one of the other mentors. I saw you training before. Man, it went downhill so fast! After you fell from the ship, all hell broke loose. We kept getting bombarded by this… thing! A mountain of a monster. A walking fucking volcano! The ship caught fire and everything went up in flames! But that was no ordinary fire! I didn't just cinch your clothes or burned your hair off, it was like it burned right through your soul. It carried fire blight at a strength that I've never seen before. Many of us jumped overboard to safe themselves from the barrage. I don't know how many of them died. But me and the other mentors stayed on board until the sails could no longer keep us airborne. We crashed somewhere deep in the forest. The only survivors were me… and Sullivan. YAAAAHHAGGGGGH!" He held his sides, enduring who knows how much pain. His body was dripping with sweat and even just talking seemed to hurt like getting a hot iron pressed to his skin.

"Sullivan! Where is he? Please! Tell me!"

"He's crazy I tell you. Said he'd walk the pain off and just visited the commander. You'll find him there. Now leave me alone before it really starts to… AAARGHHH!" A nurse quickly came to his side, replacing my spot next to the bed.

I ran back to Jaina, shaking her out of her petrified daze. "Jaina!"

"Kalaydus? What's going on? I don't know what's happening here." Jaina hugged herself underneath the poncho and I could tell that all this panic was making her nervous.

"I know, I know! Look at me. Keep breathing. We need to stay calm. I have to find Sullivan. He's the only man I know who can help us right now. I've been on a ship with him before and he trained me for a while before we were attacked. He's with the commander, so we might have a chance to explain everything to him."

Mains took a deep breath before she faced me again with determination sparkling in her eyes. "Alright. Where to?"

"Every hunter's guild has a conference table to plan out strategies. It shouldn't be too hard to find." I frantically looked around, scanning the ground floor of Astera for any signs of a present leader. Standing on my tiptoes, I could make out a grizzled old man with a stoic face and short grey hair. He slammed his hand on a large, heavy table and I could see his mouth move as he bellowed out commands for his subordinates. That had to be the man I was looking for.

"This can't be! We prepared for every possible situation. How the hell can we be out of blight medicine?" He bellowed out as his fist slammed onto the table. Several lists and maps were scattered across it and crumpled underneath his hand.

"Sir! When we said we were prepared for every situation, I don't think any of us had in mind that there could be a walking volcano that could wipe out an entire fleet. We used everything we had and the Fifth Fleet isn't coming for another few months!" A strategist trembled in her boots, as she tried to explain the problematic situation. She had long, black hair that was bound together underneath a feathered, green cap that went with her overall green strategist outfit with a brown vest and brown knee-high boots. Her face, behind a pair of rimmed glasses, lacked any color and sweat dripped from the side of her forehead.

"Then we have to make do with what we have around us! When can we send out a scout team to scavenge for more medicine? There has to be something we can scrounge up!"

"I'm afraid we can't, sir. Several hunter teams are already out hunting or scouting the land and almost every member of staff that is left is either useless in battle, inflicted with fire blight or a palico. And we can't send out palicoes on their own without a hunter to defend them from the bigger threats."

"Goddammit!" The commander gritted his teeth and threw several pieces of paper off the table. "We can't wait for the hunters to get back, let alone wait for the A-list hunters in the Fifth Fleet. If this keeps up, we might lose even more men to the blight." His subordinates were at a loss for words. They must've never seen him this defeated before. When he faced the table, he spotted me out of the corner of his eyes and lifted his gaze. "Wait… who are you?"

I stood at attention as I heard his demanding voice while Jaina hid behind me and tried to not divert any attention to herself. "I'm Kalaydus, sir. Crew member of the Fourth Fleet reporting for duty. A man at the gate said that you would want to see me personally."

His mouth slackened in disbelief. "If you really were with the Fourth like you claim, I understand why they would think I'd want to see you. Everyone, I'd like to have a word with our new arrival. Privately."

"Very well, commander. I shall see the subordinates to their quarters." The strategist bowed and politely signaled the other people around the table to follow her. When she moved to resign to the quarters, she stopped before me as I unintentionally blocked her path.

"Oh, my apologies miss." I raised my arms and stepped aside.

"No need for apologies. You can refer to me as Guild Marm. Most in this camp refer to me with this name. It makes it much simpler to remember than a usual name." She smiled benevolently and once again bowed slightly before guiding the group of advisors to their rooms.

I stepped closer to the table, facing the commander across from me. His posture was strong and unwavering as he held his hands behind his back and inspected me. "You seem unhurt."

"I've noticed that that's pretty uncommon around here, I know. I've been knocked off my ship during the attack and through a string of lucky events survived the fall mostly unharmed."

"That is indeed a rare commodity right now. Most men from the Fourth weren't that lucky as you can see. Don't you think that's a little odd? You are the only one in your group that survived the crash and didn't sustain any major injuries. Is it really just coincidence?" His eyes were sharp and full of distrust.

"I swear to you, sir. Whatever you think right now, I've had nothing to do with it! What are you accusing me of? That I'm working and scheming with the elder dragons?" I plant my hands on the table and stare at the commander but he was as unmoving as a rock.

"Settle down, hunter. I'm not accusing you of anything as of now. I will however keep my eyes on you. Sullivan has claimed you were quite an odd one and I'm taking his word for it."

My eyes widened. "Sullivan? Where is he? I've trained under him!"

"So I've heard. And he told me not to trust you. There are just too many strange phenomena surrounding you. Like the effect you had on monster skin."

I stepped away from the table and took on a more submissive tone. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you that it all happened by chance, would you?"

He calmly shook his head. "No. I've gotten enough scars from trusting 'chance'. Anyways, Sullivan is placed in intensive care. That fool thought he could take over hunting errands while half of his body got charred. He's one of the worst cases of fire blight around here."

"Then we need to help him! He needs to know that I'm not a deserter!"

The commander nodded in agreement as a sigh left his lips. "You want to help him? You'll get a chance. Luckily for you, I'm in need of a hunter. We're out of blight medicine and it will keep wearing down more and more of our hunters if we don't get new stock. We're cut off from all supply lines and the land surrounding us is unexplored and uncharted. We have no idea where to look for ingredients. We require something called nulberries. Their juices negate any kind of blight one could imagine."

"So we need to find out if any of them grow in the forest, right? Do you have maps? A guide?"

"We only have one thing. We've had cartographers map out the surrounding area when we built Astera." He slipped me a large piece of paper which pictured the overlay of the area around the huge tree out in the forest. I could make out a few locations like the deeper thickets and the beach. But this tree reached even farther than even I suspected. It was like it was the centerpiece of the forest and the rest of the trees were just greenery that grew on its roots.

When I looked it over, I suddenly felt something tug at my arm. "I know where they are." It was Jaina.

Me and the commander turned our attention towards her, with him being made even more suspicious when I started talking to her. "What are you talking about?"

She hesitantly approached the table, keeping her appearance hidden underneath her poncho.

"A friend of yours?" He asked with crossed arms.

"You could say that." I vaguely answered him. "What did you say, Jaina?"

"Those berries you're looking for… they're blue, right?"

The commander raised an eyebrow in confusion. "They… are. Why are you asking."

"I know where they grow!" She asserted herself, trying not to show her anxiousness.

He was clearly taken aback by that statement and planted his hand on the table with full attention. "I don't know who you are… Jaina. But we're desperate and don't have much time. What do you know?"

"These 'nulberries grow in a clearing deep within the forest. A lot of monsters go there when they got into a fight and got sick. If those are the ones you're talking about, I know how to get there."

"That's an awful lot of knowledge of the wildlife you got there. How did you learn that? We've been here for only a couple of weeks, so you're clearly not one of our team."

I trembled nervously as Jaina was once again forced to explain herself. I was prepared for the worst, but apparently she must've learned to be vague from listening to me talk my way out of these situations. "It's mostly instinct. I kind of see the connections in the ecosystem. I guess…" She stuttered uncertainly and I honestly couldn't blame her. I wouldn't have had a better excuse.

"Instinct, huh? Well, and all those years, I thought I had that myself. Either way, I'll let you have your secrets. Gods know I've got plenty enough of my own. Well, since you two seem to be pretty compatible already and in on something I'm apparently not supposed to know, I suppose I should send you two out together. You there, just point on the map where this clearing is so we can assemble a supply package depending on how long it's going to take you."

Jaina nodded underneath her hood and watched as the commander shoved the map towards her. It went better than I expected, except… she's supposed to point at it.

My eyes shot open as I watched Jaina step close to the table.

"It's right…"

"JAINA, WAIT!"

"…here."

It seemed like time froze. I was standing there stiffly, and the commander wasn't much better.

Right on the table, just like she was ordered to do, was Jaina's heavy claw… pointing out a spot on the map.

The commander's mouth hung open in speechlessness and his eyes slowly wandered from the yellow claw up the arm of its owner.

It took Jaina a second, but as she noticed our silence, and most of all our reaction, she perked up. She bit her lip, noticing that she messed up massively, and rapidly pulled back her claw to stuff it into her poncho.

For several moments none of us said anything, but I could see in the eyes of the commander that he was wrecking his brain over what he just saw. "So…" And he was the first one of us to speak up.

"…you will need the average care package then. A few rations and potions should do it."

"You're not going to…" I wanted to speak up, but he signaled me to shut up immediately.

"Nobody else has seen… this yet. Right?" He cocked his head, pointing at Jaina as he asked me.

"We've made sure that nobody did."

"Good… Make sure it stays that way. Now everything makes a lot more sense." He rubbed his chin as he circled the table.

"You know?"

"I do. I knew that I've heard of that effect you had before. For now, you've got your task. You and your… friend go and find the nulberries. I'll ask you to hurry and once you're done… come and see me. Both of you. You'll get your supplies at the resource center. Go!"

"Sir…"

"I said go!" He once again yelled before he turned his back to us. "We'll discuss this when you get back. Let the resource team assign each of you one of the Mernos on my order. They're strong wingdrakes that can carry you and Jaina in and out of camp effortlessly."

Me and Jaina looked at each other with neither of us knowing what to say other than: "Yes, sir."

"You have your secrets, I have mine. Now for fucks sake. Get going!" He once hammered it in and blurted his order as we hastily scrambled to get to the resource center.

We kept a low profile as we once again passed the wounded people and the bustling camp center. Once we were sure that there was nobody who wasn't too busy to listen.

"We… what was that?" Jaina finally cracked and threw herself against me with a frightened expression.

I grabbed her shoulders to calm her down but I could hardly keep calm myself as I scratched the back of my head. "I wish I knew, Jaina! I… I don't know. Listen, we can make this right. The commander didn't seem to mean harm to you, he won't hurt us… I think. We'll figure this out. You really know where these berries grow, right?"

She nodded vehemently. "I do. I've been there before when I got burned or shocked and felt better every time."

"Great." I took a deep, relaxed breath as I pulled Jaina into a soft hug. I thought me and her could really use that right now. "If we get this right, we'll gain their trust here and maybe when they learn about who you are, they'll remember what we did for them."

"I sure hope so." She sighed as she carefully looked around before wrapping her arms around me. "I'm glad you're with me."

I snickered and smiled down at her. "Same here, Jaina. So… ready to go on our first quest?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

We took a few moments as we stood there in each other's arms. We could really use a moment of rest. It was only reluctantly that we finally managed to part and head for the resource team.

Since Jaina didn't have one, I filled my pouch with our supplies and ordered two Mernos for us.

We both stood at the poles that they were tied to and got a rope wrapped around us. We looked at each other uncertainly and I encouragingly showed Jaina a thumbs-up. She nodded and relaxed while I couldn't feel my knees anymore.

The Mernos took off into the air with us tied to their talons. First one of them lifted up Jaina, causing her to yelp in surprise as she clung to the rope and then the other took off, carrying me along with it.

We took off into the air, with a sudden ecstatic adrenaline rush hitting us. We were flying!"

The midday sun was burning from the sky as we glided through the air. We could see each other as we started to laugh from the excitement.

I grabbed the rope with one hand while pumping the other towards the skies. "WOOOHHOOOOOOO!"

And subsequently, I could hear a roaring yell from Jaina. "RAAAHHAAAAAA!"

I couldn't help but smile as we soared through the air. It was one of these moments that nobody could take from us and we were making our first steps as hunters. Our first assignment. Maybe not a flashy one, but everyone has to start somewhere. At least there's not much that could go wrong.

Right?


	8. Frenemies

"Let's see: first aid meds, rations, whetstones, a fishing rod? A bug net? A… BBQ spit? What does this guy think we're doing? A camping trip?" I said to myself as I rummaged through the care package and Jaina scanned our surroundings. She would notice danger way sooner than I would after all.

"Oh hey, look at that."

"Is there something useful after all?" Jaina asked without taking her eyes off the surrounding area while shielding her sight from the sun with her claw on her forehead.

I pulled out a phial with a cork stuffed into it. There were little sparks flying inside of it and when I looked closer, I noticed that it was something I'd seen before. "There are flash flies in here. Had many of those back home when they were gathering over the fields. My dad always used to tell me to never get too close to them."

After being sure that there was nothing unusual going on, Jaina knelt next to the care package with me. "Why?"

"Well, when you disturb them, they flash up their lights. That's what gave them their name. The light is so damn bright that it makes you blind for a while." I twisted the phial, looking at the calm insects swirling around inside.

"That sounds… fun? But why would the commander put them in this glass and put it into your bag?"

I was wondering the same thing, but as I turned my arm along with the phial, my slinger came into view and it clicked in my mind. "I wonder…" I flipped the phial around and loaded it into the slinger. The string stretched all the way to the back until it was locked in and the phial fit perfectly. "There you go."

Jaina was still a little confused as she gently tapped the phial. "So you can put it in the… stretchy thing. What's the use in that?"

"Well, if it can blind me, it can probably blind a monster. I shoot it, it breaks, the flies get disturbed and boom, giant flash."

Jaina's face lit up in understanding. "Ahhh, now I get it. But won't it blind us too? I mean you said it blinds you."

"Just don't look their way when they flash, it's as simple as that." I smiled cheekily as I playfully flicked her nose when she closely inspected the phial, making her giggle. The bag went back on my belt with all the stuff that was inside except the flash flies.

"It's really weird how all that stuff fits inside there. I mean a bug net and a fishing rod fit in this little thing." Jaina said as she admired the tiny pouch that looked hardly filled.

"Yeah, right? You'd almost think it was a bottomless pit. Eh, whatever, we should get going. Time is not really on our side."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Right this way, Kalaydus." She announced chipperly as she proudly took the first steps towards the forest. She still kept an eye out and checked around every corner, but she seemed a lot more comfortable than last time.

She had a strut in her walk and took a deep breath as she led the way. "Hey, Kalaydus?"

"Yeah?"

"You know what's weird? After seeing how stressful it was in Astera… I'm feeling kind of relieved to be out here again."

"Heh, I don't think that's the standard. Both places have their low points. When we resolve this, it should be a lot calmer."

"No, I don't think it should."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why? I thought you were relieved to get away from that."

Climbing over roots and shoving brush aside, she slowed down to walk by my side. "I know, but I need to challenge myself a bit more. I'm strong already, but if I can't even face a single conversation with a human I might as well be as weak as your kind is. No offense."

"None taken. I actually kinda like that about you. God knows I have a lot more challenges to face." I chuckled and walked closer to Jaina, giving her a little nudge. "Maybe we could be the survival guide for each other. Ya know? I show you how to survive social interaction and you show me how to get tougher. Deal?"

"Oh, it's so definitely a deal." She nudged me back and shot me a cheery, close-eyed smile. Her nudge though, almost knocked me over but as fast as she bumped into me, she caught my wrist and kept me from it. "Whoops, sorry. Hehe."

I cough and smile as she pulls me back up. "Nah, I should've seen that coming. I forget how strong you are sometimes."

After getting me back on my feet, we stood closely together with my hand inside of her massive claw. "Is that also one of the things you like about me?"

"Maybe it is. I'll leave that for you to figure out." I chuckled and signaled her to lead the way. With a little blush, she turned away and once again got back on track.

Man, did that really hurt though.

It didn't take us long until we reached the far end of the forest. Lots of little critters were hiding in the bushes and weird, prehistoric birds in beautiful colors climbed around on the trunk of the ancient tree. The sunlight illuminated the undergrowth through the patterns of leaves and Jaina picked up the pace as we were apparently getting closer to where she wanted to lead us to.

"Just around this corner! Come on, Kalaydus! We're almost there!"

I had trouble keeping up with her, since she was dancing through the thicket like it was her own personal playground. "Just wait a second, alright? I don't know this place like you do!" I constantly kept getting whacked in the face by leaves and twigs that she brushed past. There really was no stopping her. I lost her sight for a moment as I was shielding myself from the attack of the greenery until we apparently broke past a thin barrier of vines and out into a large, open clearing.

Glad to not constantly get smacked, I took a moment to take a breather. When I combed back the hair that had messily fallen into my face though, I was awestruck.

"Tadaa! It's right there! Just like I told you! I know this place better than the stuff that's stuck in my hair." Jaina proudly proclaimed with a flashy pose as my mouth was still gaping.

It was like a little paradise hidden within a chaotic landscape. The sunshine that formerly only faintly breaking through the tree was now beaming into this little area thanks to a circular, large hole in the branches of the ancient tree. It was thanks to this apparently that there were all sorts of berries and nuts growing here alongside herbs and fresh, green grass. You could've mistaken it as someone's herb garden.

I could see Aptonoth and Kestodon grazing and eating their fill from the plentiful amounts of food around them. With a huge, empty husk of an old, dead branch of the tree closing up the path towards the beach area, there was just enough crawlspace left for smaller herbivores to come here and feed without being disturbed.

"I snuck in here sometimes when I felt hungry myself. It's the perfect spot to hide from the other monsters and have a snack."

"So you eat herbs and grass too?"

"Ummm… maybe if I needed to heal up a bit but… usually… y'know…" Jaina abashedly scratched her neck as she cocked her head in the direction of the herd of Aptonoth.

"Oh… I see. I mean I get it, Aptonoth meat IS pretty tasty."

"I know, right! And when you get it all in one piece and the flavor slowly emerges in your stomach, it's pure heaven!" She was almost drooling with her pupils nostalgically going cross-eyed.

"Wait… what? Emerging in your stomach?"

"Well yeah, I used to swallow them whole and then the tangy muscles and chewy fat would slowly dissolve in my belly. That's where the real flavor kicked in. Ahh, I can still remember the taste. Mmmhh…"

I shook my head as I tried to shake the thought process out of my head where I saw her unhooking her jaw and managing to cramp a whole Aptonoth inside her. "So… when I was hanging in those vines back then… and you were pulling on my leg instead of biting pieces off of me…"

She immediately snapped out of her daze and waved her arms in defense. "I would've swallowed you alive, I know! Forget that that happened! In my defense, I thought you were dead."

"Not sure if that makes the thought of being digested alive any more pleasant."

"I wouldn't try that again! I promise!" She clenched her claws near her chest and it almost looked like she had apologetic tears in her eyes.

"Ahh, stop looking at me like that. I didn't think you would. It's still a little bit chilling to think about though… rrghghh." My body was shaking in discomfort when I had the image in my head.

Jaina clenched her claws even harder and shut her eyes as she blurted her words out. "I said forget about it! I wouldn't have done it if I knew you like I do now." Towards the end, she started sulking and crossed her arms dejectedly.

Her looked down at the ground, pouting and with embarrassment written all over her face.

I gave her a little smirk to cheer her up and unfolded her arms gently. "I know that. I'm just messing around. You're about to be my personal hero now, so lighten up a little, okay?" I playfully tapped my finger against her chin and she met my smile with her own as her pouting lips melted away.

I felt her squeeze my hands and her beaming happiness returned once again. "Alright, the berries are over there, you can't miss them. Right in the middle of the other ones."

I followed her over to a patch of berry bushes with all sorts of colored berries. Nulberries were naturally blue, so I knew exactly what to look for when I found a row of bushes that they grew on. My pouch, among many other usually impossible to fit stuff, contained several cylindrical containers for the berries. It didn't matter whether or not they were whole or mashed as long as the juices were intact., so I could fit as many berries into it as the space of the container allowed.

There were 5 containers altogether and I had no idea how many people were suffering from fire blight back in Astera. I decided that it would be better to pack too much instead of too little since we could always stock this stuff and use it later and set out to fill all of the containers to the brim.

"Here, Jaina. You fill these two and I take care of the other…" When I turned to her though, I was left speechless, seeing her prone on the ground, sneaking through the tall grass.

I must've made an expression somewhere between confusion and hilarity when I saw her wholeheartedly focusing on looking straight ahead towards the Aptonoths. "What… the… hell are you doing?"

"These things used to be really scared of me. I'll just give them a quick reminder to not get too comfortable. All this talk about eating made me hungry. I'm gonna get us some nice, juicy meat." I could see her salivating at her teeth as she snaked through the grass much like she used to move in her monster form.

A chuckle burst through my lips as I watched her, butt in the air, crawling towards the herd, completely undetected by them. I thought this was worthwhile to see turned my attention to her while I picked off berries on the side.

She moved with slow, smooth movements and came ever so close to the herd which was still busy with stuffing their cheeks with grass.

I finished filling up my first container when Jaina finally reached them. She was completely still, waiting until one of the smaller Aptonoth strayed a bit from the herd to chew on the patch of grass that she hid in. It was completely clueless, and came closer. Closer. And then…

"Raaahhhh!" Jaina jumped out of hiding and burst out in the most threatening roar she could muster. She lunged into the air as the Aptonoth could do nothing but stare in surprise and shock. I was impressed. She might actually would've been able to slay it.

She swings her heavy claw over her head, striking at the Aptonoth's back and leaving huge gashes from there, down to its gut. Jaina had a look of ecstasy and excitement in her eyes as she struck down the herbivore.

The strike clearly left it weak and I was even sure that it was the only strike necessary to kill it.

But just before her prey fell onto the ground…

"MOOOOOOOOO…

…OOOOOOOOOOO…

…Oooooooooooooo"

It left out a painful, echoing scream that panicked the other monsters. Kestodon and Aptonoth noticed the new threat and quickly spit out their food before stampeding out of the clearing. They were almost stumbling over each other as they escaped through the various crawlspaces.

The Aptonoth that Jaina hunted though, fell over and didn't make any further signs of moving.

Jaina was breathing heavily as the rush of adrenaline went through her. When she snapped out of her rush, she dislodged her claw from the thick hide of her prey and a joyous smile appeared on her lips. With wide eyes she looked over to me and I greeted her smile with mine.

"I did it! I still got it! Yes!" She pumped a fist with an enthusiastic little bounce.

I was too distracted for a moment to even think about the mission we two were supposed to carry out right now. I just couldn't bring myself to miss the radiant happiness she emanated. Never imagined that at some point in my life, seeing someone else slay a monster would send a sweet lightning through my heart. I guess it's just one of these unexplainable phenomena that happen once in a lifetime.

In this happy moment though… we forgot something. This place was only so peaceful because none of the more dangerous monsters knew it was there. But with the cries of the Aptonoth having rung out into the forest, we had no idea who or what might have heard it.

We would know soon…

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

Heavy, thundering thuds vibrated in the air. Leaves were falling off the trees from being slightly shaken. The large empty husk of a log that closed off the area was creaking and cracking from something that approached it from the other side.

Jaina turned her head to said log along with me and I could see from her widening eyes that it couldn't mean anything good.

"Jaina? What's coming? Can you smell it? Jaina?" I hastily tried to call out to hear, suppressing my voice so that only she could hear it. But she couldn't answer. Her legs were trembling and her eyes shaky as she stared head on into the direction where the thuds came from.

Some kind of large monster was coming.

A brief pause.

We didn't hear anything…

…until the steps were back, grew heavier and came closer fast.

I almost faceplanted when I got up to my feet and made a run for Jaina. "GET DOWN!" I tackled her out of her petrified stance and jumped out of dodge with her in my arms.

A split second later, a huge slam could be heard, followed by splinters flying everywhere. Pieces of bark zipped through the air like razorblades and got stuck in the sides of other trees while we avoided most of the projectiles coming our way.

When we could finally look up again, there was a huge, wheezing wyvern looming over us. It was massive with two strong hind legs that it was standing on while its front legs were short and underdeveloped. It had a rose colored, hot skin with the exception of its back and its long, muscular tail which were covered in thick, black fur. It fletched its sharp rows of piercing teeth with some of them even placed on the outside of its lower jaw. The most unusual thing about this monster though, was that it had flaring nostrils that stretched out from the tip of its snout that was dripping with a sort of liquid-y slime.

Jaina and I laid next to each other, leaning on our elbows as we couldn't do anything but stare at this beast.

A low rumble emanated from its throat before it raised its head to let out a gut-wrenching roar that made the earth underneath us shake.

"Run! RUN!" Jaina yelled at me as she pushed me to get up and book it.

Just in the nick of time, we jumped into the brush, barely escaping as this thing slammed its heavy head onto the ground and tried to smash us with it.

Disappearing into a thicket, Jaina and I had a moment to breathe before the monster would notice that we were still here. "Holy shit, what is that thing!? A brute wyvern?"

"Remember when I told you that I can't spit poison, shoot lightning or breathe fire?"

"Yes?"

"That's the one that breathes fire. We can't fight it, Kalaydus. I've tried so many times and it almost killed me. I can't face it like this!" Jaina pushed herself against the trunk of a tree in a fit of panic.

I grabbed her shoulders. "Hey, look at me. Look at me! I need you to stay with me here! We have no choice in this. We need to get out there."

"But… with her out there…"

"I just said we have no choice. We can't stay here. It's one against two this time. We can make it. We have to! People will die!"

"I know! I know! I just don't know how!"

Meanwhile, the monster outside seemed to start looking for us. I could hear it tear up the clearing and knocking over smaller trees. We didn't have much more time.

"Look, since we're together, we can use that against it. We need to confuse it and strike it from different angles. Your strength alone won't cut it, but if we strike one after another, we can wear it down and maybe even defeat it. Are you with me, Jaina?"

She gulped and shut her eyes but vehemently nodded. "But how am I going to hurt it? I don't have a weapon and my claws can't cut through its hide."

I unsheathed my dual blades and pushed one of them into Jaina's hand. She looked down at the sword and then up at me in bewilderment. "Now you do." I said with a nod before we were finally caught.

The wyvern opened its jaw and lodged its teeth into the tree we were hiding behind, ripping out of the ground with roots and everything that was attached to them.

With the tree stuck in its jaw, it looked down at us like some uncovered insects. Its eyes narrowed angrily.

With a twist of its neck, it held the tree like a bat in its mouth and was ready to take a swing.

"Now should be the time where we split up!" I shouted at Jaina before we both bolted and ran in two different directions. Jaina up a plateau and me into the field of grass and greenery.

In between us, the monster broke the tree it carried in half by slamming it onto the ground and dragging it across. The tree itself was nothing but broken wood after that.

The wyvern frustratingly crunched up whatever was left of the tree and decided to go after me. I was cornered against a thicket that I couldn't push through and was forced to face it.

I brandished my sword and tried to forget my fear of the massive creature. Wielding only one sword instead of two felt awfully uneven but it would have to do. The blade that I usually held with only one hand, I could now grab with both of them which put a lot more weight into my swings.

The wyvern growled as it faced me, ready to once again barrel towards me. Slime dripped from its nostrils and I could feel its hot breath hit my skin.

"Well, who's gonna make a move first?" I asked it tauntingly as I waited for it to attack.

Apparently, it worked because shortly after, it lowered its head in preparation to ramming me with its hardened skull. This was my chance.

With brute wyverns that was the thing you could always count on. Aimless, unstopping moves that just had them run blindly in one direction, hoping they would hit something.

Well, I wasn't going to let it.

I dodged out of its way as its head plowed through the earth. The moment it passed me by, I pushed my feet into the loosened earth and lunged back the way I came from and plunged my blade into the monster's strong leg.

It cried out in pain as it realized that it was hit and with my sword stuck in its muscles, it cramped up, stumbled and crashed onto the ground. Laying on its side, it struggled aggressively to get up again, kicking its legs and scrambling about with its short arms.

Meanwhile I was sticking onto its upturned side with my sword twisting inside of its leg. It wouldn't stay down forever so I had to strike while the iron was hot. I grabbed onto its black fur that I could barely reach so I could use my other hand to pull the sword out and repeatedly slice into it again.

It was seriously annoyed now and finally managed to kick me off. It sustained major injuries and was visibly hurting but nonetheless it got up with a vengeance and focused on me. Its eyes were bloodshot and its nostrils puffing with steam.

It wasn't a good sign.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened. A pair of leathery sails extended from its back, fanning from side to side as it let out an angry, terrifying roar.

But even more worrying than that was that the slime it excreted was apparently flammable. Its throat, where the slime came from, glowed in a hot red that pushed through the already hot pink scales even. It was like a seething fire rested within its throat and I could imagine what it was going to use it for.

It dug its claws into the ground. Craned its neck up and shot steam from its nostrils. And then it opened its jaw, unleashing a beam of fire that quickly barreled towards me. The fire was already burning in my eyes as I had no way to get out of the way in time. I shielded my face and braced for the impact.

Even through my shut eyelids, I could see the red glare of the fire and soon afterwards its force knocked me backwards until my body was pinned against another tree. A burning pain went through my limbs and it felt like my very soul was being burned to a crisp. My armor must've had holed burned into it already. At the very least in the parts that were made from leather. The iron on the other hand, started to get hot as well and singed my skin.

The fire didn't let up and kept pushing me against the tree. But then suddenly… it stopped rather sporadically. I caught my breath, hardly believing that apart from a massive burn, I didn't die.

And then I looked up from my defensive stance. And there I saw something incredible.

"No, you fucking don't! I won't let you do this to him as well!" Jaina was hanging from the side of the wyvern's head, her blade lodged into its skull while her free claw was stuck right over the eye of the monster. The wyvern, visibly infuriated, flailed around, trying to shake Jaina off its head.

I was weak, and my legs almost gave in after the hit I had taken. My armor was filled with burn holes and subsequently my skin underneath was partially charred black. Nonetheless I couldn't collapse. Not now.

I put in all of my strength to move and aimed my arm at the wyvern with my slinger clicking into action. "Jaina! Close your eyes!"

Jaina hastily looked towards me and saw what I was planning to do. She nodded and tightly shut her eyes.

The phial of flash flies that was loaded into my slinger shot out of my slinger and zipped towards the wyvern that was aimlessly shooting fire into the air. Moving its head one more time to try and get rid of Jaina, it unconsciously broke the phial with its head.

I shielded my eyes with my hand and even through both my eyelids and my fingers I could see the flash of light.

"It worked!" Jaina's voice alerted me that it was time to look again. And it actually did work.

The creature's eyes weren't focusing on anything and it was stumbling about blindly. Now was our chance.

"Hit it! Hit it one more time!"

Jaina understood and unlike what I expected, she didn't use her blade… but instead brandished her claw.

"This is personal, bitch!" She scratched the wyvern right across the eye, making it panic and run ahead without seeing anything.

I jumped out of the way as it crashed into the tree that I was pushed up against. From the heavy impact, a net of leaves and vines dropped down from above and with the thorny vines hooking into the ground, the monster was pinned and the more it struggled, the more it got tangled.

Jaina jumped off the beast's head and moved next to me. We looked at each other and nodded as we readied our blades. The furious monster glared at us, trying to spit fire to no avail. The vines were choking it, allowing barely any breath to come out.

Me and Jaina tightened our fists around the blades and raised them over our head before delivering an unhindered, heavy cross strike against the creature's neck. The hit was hard enough to break the fire sac inside of its neck and made it weak enough to slump down and stop struggling. After that hard-hitting blow it was just lying there, breathing heavily.

Jaina looked over at me after we finished our strike and wordlessly handed me my blade back. It was the one that my father's amulet was attached to. I moved towards the monster's now calmly resting head, all signs of struggling seeming to have left it.

I flipped my blades around and like the sword in the stone, thrusted them into its skull. Just like with Jaina, it felt like the last strike didn't hurt the wyvern, it didn't even tear the hide. Yet it looked like the life left its eyes… and the body went limp.

It was defeated. It was over.

I was panting heavily when I staggered away from the monster. I looked towards Jaina who immediately fell right into my arms.

Her tears stained the leather on my shoulders as I gently put my arms around her.

"We did it."

"We did! I was so scared!" Her voice was shaky and her cries heartbreaking.

"You did great, Jaina."

"It was all my fault! She would've never hurt you like this if I wasn't so damn stupid!" She hugged me even tighter and nuzzled my shoulder.

"I'm okay, Jaina. I'm fine. It didn't even hurt that baaaaa….." Suddenly a spike of pain shot through my body.

"Kalaydus! What's wrong?"

I sunk to the ground as Jaina gently held me in her claws and lowered me down. I hugged my front, twitching from the severe internal pain. It felt like my lungs and heart were getting cooked inside of me.  
"Fire blight…NHGHHH. My pouch! The berries!" I ordered her.

Jaina worriedly ripped the pouch off my belt and in a rush of panic rummaged through it to find the container with the nulberries. She carefully lifted my head, and put the rim of the container to my lips. The half-mashed berries slid into my mouth and I painfully swallowed what I could.

"Hahhh, gahhh, thank you!"

"How are they? Are the berries working?"

I took a deep breath now that my lungs didn't feel like they were boiling anymore. "Yeah, they did. Heh, they're actually a lot sweeter than I thought they'd be."

Jaina's worried expression loosened up and a soft smile formed on her lips. "Are they now?"

"See for yourself."

I leaned on my elbows as I propped myself up and placed a soft, loving kiss on Jaina's lips. She cupped my cheeks and closed her eyes as we enjoyed the feeling of closeness between us. For a second we could forget what we just went through and how stressful our situation was.

As we parted, Jaina laughed to herself. "You're right. They ARE sweet."

"Odd, right?"

"Hehe, yeah. It is." Jaina chuckled as she combed her claw through my tussled, slightly singed hair.

But all of the sudden, there was a weird noise that tore us out of our little, cheesy moment.

The skin of the monster was falling in on itself as if the inside of it was slowly shrinking, leaving only the hide behind. I knew all too well what that meant. My father's amulet had once again released its effects.

I crawled out from underneath Jaina and checked on the loose, hollow skin. The spot around the neck, where we hit it with the cross strike, open now and gave us a chance to look inside. I stuck my hands through it, feeling something warm and alive inside.

Jaina curiously looked over my shoulder. "What is it?"

"Well, it's the same way that I got you out of your old skin. Meaning that in there… is…"

I grabbed something that felt like armpits and pulled as hard as I could. The first thing that came out of the opening was an arm. An arm with a pink claw instead of hands. "Jaina, help me over here for a second."

"Got it. HRRNNGHH!"

Bit by bit, the full body of the semi human version of this monster emerged. As we pulled it out in the open, I could finally see what she looked like. It was a woman of course, and just like Jaina she had features that were human and others that were residues from her monster form.

She had an almost Amazonian body and a skin that was more full and rosy in contrast to Jaina's lighter, pale skin. Her tall body was very curvy, even more so than Jaina but I thought that could just be because of the size difference. Her hips were wide and thick which seamlessly translated into strong and muscular legs that transitioned into hard-scaled dark grey claws. Her breasts were also bigger, but if you count in the size difference, they were probably at about the same level. Her arms though were a lot feebler than I would've expected.

They were almost dainty and smooth up until her smaller, shorter claws. One other thing that she carried over from her monster form and that was the fur coat she had around her neck and a part of her back as well as the upper side of her massive tail while it had pink scaly hide on the underside. The black fur blended right in with her wallowing, long black hair that flowed out over it. There was a three-pronged scratch dragging across one of her eyes but; a wound that Jaina had caused her but I couldn't make out her eye color since her eyes were shut too tight to open them.

"So that's how I came out of my shell, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much exactly like that."

"Well, while she's still knocked out, we should…"

"Don't even say it."

Jaina's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"We're not going to kill her, neither are we going to leave her here. She won't survive for long in this state."

"Are you insane? She almost killed YOU! And you want to take her with us?"

"Yes…"

"Why?"

"Should I have left you, when you were in the same position?"

"Well… no…"

"Exactly, we don't know what she's like in her new form. We don't kill for no good reason."

I laid our sleeping monster into a patch of grass and let her rest. "She's not the reason we're here and she wasn't a target. And if she turns out to be cooperative, she could become an ally to us."

"I don't like that idea, Kalaydus. She's just violent! She's going to hurt us again."

I understood her worry and I couldn't lie and say that I trusted her not to do that. "We'll give her one chance to redeem herself. If she does, great, if not, we can handle her." I walked over to Jaina, holding her claws gently and reassuringly.

Jaina sighed and sunk her head while still squeezing my hands back. "She's caused me so much pain, Kalaydus. If she would hurt you as well…"

"That's why we won't let that happen, Jaina. Neither to me nor to you. We need to be above this. And I know you can do that." I carefully wrapped my arms around her, receiving a reluctant hug from her as well.

But after her hesitation, she smiled. "Okay, what now? We still have stuff to do, right?"

"Yeah, like I said…" I handed her 2 containers and nodded towards the field of berries. "…you're filling two and I do the other three.

She nodded with a smile and went about collecting as many nulberries as she could. But as I was about to do the same, I could feel the air blowing onto my skin. My armor was completely ruined and filled with charred tears and holes.

"Shit, I need to get these repaired." My gaze wandered over to the hollow skin of the former monster. "Or…"

After Jaina was done collecting the berries, she turned around to me as I was about to join her. She looked behind me in confusion. "Hey, where did her body go?"

"Huh?"

She nodded towards the sleeping semi woman. "Hers. Where's her skin?"

"Oh that! It's in here." I said proudly as I tapped against the pouch on my belt that didn't look any larger than it was before.

Jaina leaned down to take a close look at it. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope, bones, hide, scales, fur… all in here."

"You want to tell me that her whole body. All that skin. Fits in there?"

"Apparently so. I mean I carved it up before into tinier pieces. It's for the blacksmith. I really need a new armor. Leather evidently doesn't hold out against the stronger attacks."

"Ahh, now it makes total sense."

"Yup, let me just get the rest of those berries so that we can get going."

"I was being sarcast… nevermind."

And so, I did my part and filled the remaining empty containers with berries and stuffed the five of them into my pouch right along the bug net, fishing rod, BBQ spit and whetstones.

When we were finally done, the only thing left was going back… as well as carrying our new frenemy. I had no idea how this was going to go. It could be another Jaina situation where things would smoothly work out or… let's not think about the alternatives of bringing a fire breathing monster into a mostly wooden camp.


	9. Irreplacable

Night came over the forest when we finally got out of the forest. We had to get to an open area so we could call for the Mernos to pick us up and carry me, Jaina and our new companion back to Astera.

I carried the unconscious girl in a bridal style in my arms while Jaina repeatedly and 'subtly' shot me annoyed glances.

"What?"

"Oh, you know what!"

"How else would I get her back to camp if not by carrying her?"

"Well… why won't you let me carry her? You're still wounded anyways!"

"Because I'm worried that you're gonna rip her throat out if I leave her in your hands."

"So what if I did! Do you care that much about her? You're probably already into her and thinking about how you're gonna do her!" Jaina crossed her arms and grumbled to herself as she continued walking with her head turned away from me.

"You're being unreasonable, Jaina! I don't even know what she's like, how could I imagine doing that with her?"

"Well, she's pretty, isn't she? She has big boobs, bigger than mine and she has cleaner hair than I do!" Jaina's voice was sulky and pouty with a twinge of sadness.

"Jaina… there's more to it than that. In order for people to love each other, they have to know each other."

"But… when other males I knew looked for a partner they just looked at which one had the strongest and best body to make babies with."

"Well, humans are different. Looks can only get you so far. Love is a whole different ballpark."

"But what does love have to do with wanting someone to mate with?"

"Simple, you only 'mate' with those who you love. Usually at least." I shrugged. I wasn't that confident in my own statement. I didn't know much about how others viewed sex after all, but I felt like what I said was still valid.

Jaina carefully walked up to my side without looking at me. But even with her head turned away from me, I could tell that she was acting a bit bashful and sheepish. "So… does that mean you love… me?"

I stopped in my tracks when I first heard her question. She was still not facing me and honestly, I wasn't sure if I could face her either with all the blood that was rushing to my face.

I tried to act casual as I processed what I really thought the true answer to this was. "I ran right into that one, didn't I? I guess, I really never did say it out loud, huh?"

"You didn't… That's why I asked." Jaina's gaze went towards the ground as she kept walking and twiddling around with her claws anxiously.

A small twinge of guilt went through my heart when I realized that I've never told her. I just thought it went without saying but… I guess I couldn't be vague with her. All these concepts were new and alien to her so it was stupid of me to expect that she would just pick it up that easily. I had to be clear with her.

"Well… I do."

"Huh?" Finally, she looked at me again with expectant, attentive eyes.

"I do love you. I'm… sorry I've never said it."

"Really? Since when?"

"I guess ever since that night at the beach. We've both been beaten down and didn't know how to move on. I related to you on so many levels and… I guess it just kind of developed from there. You were cute, fun and you always kept up such an optimism that it sprung over to me."

Jaina's cheeks and the bridge of her nose flushed red and her twitching hands calmed down as a sweet smile crossed her lips. "That night… Around the same time then…"

"Around the same time? What do you mean?"

She chuckled and gave me a cheeky little wink. "I'll let you figure that out for yourself."

"Haha, veeery funny." I playfully rolled my eyes as she played my cards against me.

"Revenge is sweet." She cheerily shrugged back and walked closer to me again. It was good that she lightened up again, but I couldn't help but notice her throwing worried glances at the woman in my arms.

I tried to divert her attention from her. "You know, come to think of it… the night I found you I carried you the exact same way."

"Really?" Her brightened, golden eyes looked up at me with pure, genuine happiness.

"Yeah, I held you just like this. You know usually this is the way you're supposed to carry your… bride…" And when I said that, while I was almost wishing to sink into the ground from embarrassment, Jaina only cocked her head.

"What's a bride?"

"It's… well… when someone is very special to you and you love them so much that you want to spend the rest of your life with them, you marry them."

"And what's marrying?" Jaina came ever closer to me and I could feel her clinging to my arm as she intently listened to me.

"In a marriage you… exchange vows. A promise that you… want to keep being with them forever. For as long as life will take you." My heart was beating out of my chest and Jaina seemed to be massively excited by the idea.

"O…oh, so that's what that means, huh? Hehe, that's an… odd tradition you humans have." She chuckled awkwardly as she sheepishly combed back her hair with her claw. Her face was burning up and I wasn't faring much better.

But soon, there was something else going on with her. "Hrrmmmh…" Once again, she grumbled and threw nasty glances my way.

"What… now?" I hesitantly asked.

When I called her out on it, she slumped a little and turned her gaze away with a pout. "It doesn't make me happy that you carry HER that way now."

"Oh… yeah… b…but it doesn't always… mean something. With her I have to do it; for you I'd do it even if I didn't have to."

I could see from her expression that she was still not happy. I should not have expected her to, to be honest. This woman who I held in my arms was one that had caused Jaina a lot of pain and several wounds after all.

I questioned myself. Why DID I insist on taking her with us so much. By all accounts I should hate her. She hurt the girl I loved. But somehow there was this urge inside me to give her a chance to redeem herself no matter how irredeemable she seemed.

Maybe it had to do with the way how I met Jaina. Back then, we were both ready to kill each other and if I hadn't discovered her human form… she would be…

I couldn't even finish that thought. But the point was that we were just two creatures from two different sides pitted against each other. Neither of us meant anything by what we did. It was just nature.

Maybe that was my small hope for our new frenemy here. She could be terrible. She could be completely different. But before we gave her a chance, we wouldn't know. Maybe one day she and Jaina can resolve their issues with each other. Maybe…

"We should be in the clear up ahead." Jaina said coldly and unusually monotone. Following that announcement, she sped up her steps and walked ahead of me, knowing that I couldn't keep up with the girl in my arms.

"Jaina! Wait up!" I shouted after her as loudly as I could without alarming the wildlife. But she wasn't hearing it.

I sighed into the lonely silence of the dark blue forest, having to track Jaina's footsteps to find the clearing where we were going to take off.

"I really hope you're worth this." I lamented to the girl in my arms.

She restlessly twitched in her sleep. Her eyes were trembling and her claws were clenching and opening irregularly. In general… she kind of reminded me of how Jaina was when she was out of it. Who knows, maybe both of them have their own demons to fight.

But for that to happen, I'd first have to make up with Jaina again.

After a while more of following her trails, I reached an opening. The opening that we entered the forest from.

I heard the shout of a Mernos in the air and I knew already what that meant. Jaina had already taken off back to Astera and that suspicion turned out to be true when I saw a hooded figure hanging off a flying Mernos heading for the camp.

I really didn't think she'd be this upset.

I dejectedly and disappointedly called for my own Mernos which shortly afterwards came flying down to me. I tied the rope, that it carried, around my waist and attached the girl to it as well with an extra belt.

Thankfully Mernos are known to be incredibly strong fliers and it was able to lift both of us.

During the flight I thought about what I would tell Jaina and how we would move forward from now on. I had to have her on my side, otherwise… I wouldn't forgive myself.

It was probably pretty selfish to think that, but I needed her. I wanted her with me. And I'd do everything to be on her good side again.

Crossing the border to Astera, everything seemed quiet. Obviously. The hunters were out cold from the fire blight and the researchers were probably sleeping after the stress and exhaustion of caring for them.

It actually put my mind at ease to know that nobody would probably notice me and the semi human I carried in my arms. In fact, as the Mernos landed, I didn't even have to hide her and could head straight for the commander's quarters which were still lit with torches.

I carefully pulled aside the curtains that closed off the commander's room from the public and entered just to find the commander sitting at a desk full of documents running one hand through his hair while holding his head with the other. He was visibly exhausted and was apparently having a headache from working through a slough of papers.

"Commander. I'm back from my quest. I uhh… wanted to report in?"

His eyes wandered over to me and immediately widened as he saw me as well as the girl in my arms. He grumbled for a second before he got up and approached me. "Would you care to explain yourself? First your friend comes in here on her own, aimlessly wandering around the camp, and now you bring another one of these hybrid monsters. I'm really trying to work with you here. What happened?"

"You've picked up Jaina? Where is she?"

"Report first, answers later!" He spoke through his teeth trying to stay formal and collected.

I gulped and collected myself. "We carried out our mission as you ordered, sir. We found the clearing with the nulberries and collected as many as we could. But in the middle of everything there was an… incident. We alarmed the wildlife and got attacked by a monster. A huge, strong one that could breathe fire and ram us with its head. Definitely a brute wyvern I think." I pulled out the five containers of nulberries and placed them on his desk.

"That would be an Anjanath then. I'll make sure these are distributed to the medical staff. Continue." He explained to me before I went on.

"Well, long story short, we fought it and… this was the result. Just the same result as it was with Jaina. I took her with me because I thought she could be of some use for the research commission. I hear that you've captured several other monsters alive before, but I think if you had one that could actually tell you everything you need to know, it would be way more practical." I built up a sweat on my forehead as I tried to rectify my actions. I had no idea how that reason would hold up.

But to my surprise, the commander just nodded and accepted it, though there was something weird about him. He shook his head and laughed amused. "Man, you really are just like your father. But at least your father stopped at one."

I was taken aback and almost dropped the girl in surprise. "You… you know my dad? How? What are you talking about."

"Ah, boy, there's a lot I have to explain to you. Too much for this time of day. But, joking aside now…" He grew stern and came closer to me. "… Nobody must know. Not yet at least. I prepared private quarters for you and your companion. That's where I sent her when she arrived here. You're lucky I was the last person to be up at this point. I'm afraid there's only enough space for the two of you for now. Haven't exactly expected you to bring a new arrival so soon."

My eyes flicked all over the room as I tried my hardest to comprehend the situation I was in. "I'm glad to hear that you provided us with a place to stay, really I am but…There… There are still so many questions I have. What have you… When have you…"

He just shook his head and gave me an understanding smile. "In due time, Kalaydus. I will come visit you and Jaina tomorrow and explain everything to you. Trust me, I know more than you think." He took a deep breath. "In the meantime, I will take care of that new companion you brought along. She'll stay in a separate room where she can recover from her wounds and her transformation. Put her down on this bench over there, I'll transfer her later."

I did as I was ordered, as bewildered as I was, and gently laid her down on a long bench that was probably used for visitors in the commander's office.

When she settled down, a long, exasperated breath escaped her lips as she kept sleeping.

"What if she wakes up?" I asked cautiously.

"She won't. Not today at least. Judging by the wounds you caused her, she might take a while to recuperate. If she does however… well, we'll see how she'll handle it."

"I think I really should stay here if she…"

The commander waved me off, denying my retort. "You have your own troubles to face first. I've noticed the mood that your companion was in when she arrived here. It's not my business but you better sort it out quickly if you don't want it to turn into a bigger problem than it has to be. You'll get all your answers and our new arrival will be safe. I'll make sure of it. Now go!"

I was thankful but at the same time so confused. "Commander?"

"What is it, Kalaydus?"

But when he looked over his shoulder with a confident smile, I swallowed any further questions I had and instead: "Thank you."

"No problem. Everything will become clear soon. I promise. Now take care of Jaina, will you? Your quarters are at the bow of the hollow ship."

I nodded vehemently. "I will!"

I exited the commander's office into the dark night and scanned around for the quarters he described.

I found what I was looking for at the front of one of the stranded vessels, behind a couple of barrels and crates of unused sails for the ships. Apparently, the commander did this so nobody else would go back here.

Just like the commander's office, a curtain with the logo of the research commission on it kept it from the sight of the people outside. I carefully snuck a peek inside.

I lifted the curtain gently and was greeted by the back of Jaina, sitting on one of the two beds that were provided. The room was a bit cramped but still had enough room for the both of us. It was clearly not meant to be a living quarter but it would be enough for now.

I quietly slipped inside. Even from the faint rustling of the curtain, Jaina perked up a little and took a careful look over her shoulder. When her golden eyes met my blue ones, they quickly turned solemn and sad.

She turned around without saying a word and rubbed her right arm with her left claw uncomfortably.

"Hey." I said to break the silence.

"Hey. You're here." She stated with a monotone, hesitant voice. "Where's… she?"

"At the commander's office. She won't live in the same room as us."

"Did you want her to?"

"Why are you saying this stuff? You're acting like she's going to steal me away from you."

"Is she?" There wasn't even a hint of joking when she said that, yet when she did, a small snicker escaped my lips. When she heard my snickering, she crossed her arms and hugged her knees on top of the bed.

I came up behind her and crawled onto the bed. Before she could even react and escape, I wrapped my arms around her and dragged her into a soft, warm hug. I thought she needed this right now and apparently, I was right.

Jaina didn't struggle, nor did she protest it. Instead, she snuggled against me and let me entwine my fingers with her claws.

"I told you before, didn't I? I don't know her, just being attractive doesn't mean I'm going to like her. I just took her along because I wanted to give her the same chance as I did you."

Jaina seemed to still struggle with the idea and finally broke down. "But what if you DO end up liking her!" She whined and pressed her face into my chest. I could feel that she was crying. Tear stains were forming on my clothes. I was an idiot. The whole time I thought her doubts were silly but I forgot that to her… this was serious. I tightened my grip on her and tried to calm her down as she clung to me with trembling shoulders.

With a barely audible voice she wrung out a few words. "I don't want you to like her. Everything I'm good at, she's better at it. You're… you're going to forget about me. You won't need me anymore. Taking you away from me would be the last thing she hasn't done to me yet."

The weight of her words weighed down on me harder than I could describe. I took a moment to let her cry herself out and when the sobbing finally stopped, I spoke up again. "I don't care what she's better in."

Jaina lifted her head to look up at me with her watery, glistening eyes.

"I…I know this is all hard and confusing to you. Trust me, it is for me too. But whatever happens, whatever she can do that you can't… she's not you. She will never… ever replace you. You need to have trust in yourself, you need to have trust in me. WE need to have trust in each other. I won't forget about you and I hope you won't forget about me either."

"Of course, I won't. I love you!" Jaina half whined and half chuckled when she wiped the tears from her face with her palm.

I finally managed to wring a smile out of her and in turn, she made me smile as well. I ran my fingers through her hair that was just as messy and dirty as the day I met her. "And besides, you're leagues ahead of her. You know why?"

"Why?" She asked with a curious look up at me.

"Eh, I'll let you figure that out on your own."

I broke down laughing a little bit as she softly punched my chest with her clenched claws. "AWW! You can't get away with this NOW! Why do you think I'm leagues ahead of her?"

I finished giggling when I moved my hand from her hair to her cheek and looked directly into her eyes. "Because you've already got me." I said as a finishing touch before I pulled her closer and pressed my lips onto hers.

It was so relieving to finally have a moment like this with her again. With Jaina melting into the kiss and our bodies naturally wanting to be connected. Jaina fully turned around to my so that she could sit on my lap and sling her arms around me. While I held on to her hips, she almost painfully embraced my neck as she enthusiastically kissed me back with several small pecks and long, drawn out, silent kisses just so we could feel one another.

Since she didn't wear anything underneath her poncho, I could feel her bare crotch grind against my clothed one and felt like I was in a pretty unfair advantage. My cock naturally grew at the thought and feeling of her pressing herself against me and the faint warmth of her of her hot privates just added even more excitement.

Feeling her like this again felt like a missing puzzle piece was attached to me again. It felt natural and incredibly comforting.

But these clothes… they were just in the way now.

"Jaina?" I spoke up in between kisses.

"Yeah?" She responded with dreamy, hazy eyes.

"We should probably get a little more… comfortable. Don't you think?" I whispered huskily as I playfully toyed around with the rim of her furry hood.

"Leave that to me." She responded with an unusually sultry tone in her voice while her hooded eyes locked onto mine.

Before I snapped out of my daze, Jaina got off me and off the bed as well. She knelt down by the side of the bed and padded it to signal me that I should sit on the edge. I followed her instructions with a curious smile and after being instructed to, spread my legs to find Jaina snuggle in between them, petting my crotch.

"You got this big for me?" She giggled cheerily as her claws unimaginably gently put pressure onto my excitedly twitching cock.

"I thought it was pretty obvious back there that you were turning me on." I tried to laugh back but it was interrupted by soft gasps that escaped my mouth. "But you can't trick me, I felt you on my lap before. You're pretty into it yourself."

"Ha bap bap, this isn't about me, this is all… about you." She said huskily as she sneakily hooked her claw into the waistband of my pants and pulled them down to my knees. She almost predatorily gazed down at my exposed cock as it sprung up from its cover.

Her hunger for it was clearly visible in her expressions and she was already planning on how she would take it into her mouth like last time and give me yet another mind-blowing fellatio. But to my surprise, even though she was clearly tempted to do that, she left my cock alone for now. Instead, I watched as she hypnotically shimmied out of her poncho. Flipping up the flaps of it, she revealed her breasts as they swayed about after dropping out of her clothes.

My cock throbbed at the sight of the familiar smooth body that aroused me more than any fantasy ever could.

Shedding herself of the only layer of clothing that covered her, Jaina was ready to put her actual plan into action. She returned to her spot between my legs as I waited with bated breath for what she wanted to do to me.

"I know they're not as big as hers but…" Jaina trailed off before her voluptuous boobs pooled out onto my crotch, smothering my dick until its strength got it to pop into her cleavage. "…I think mine should do the trick just as well." She licked her lips with hot gasps of excitement.

I was so surprised by her bold move that I grip the sheets at the sudden shock of feeling her cold but stimulatingly smooth skin around my member. The tanginess of her flesh served like the perfect pressure to stimulate my shaft and tip equally, swallowing my cock in its entirety.

"I don't think you've got…nghh… any reason to talk yourself down, Jaina."

"Really! Does it feel good? I… I honestly wasn't too sure about that but… I'm… glad." Even though she put up a very seductive and confident façade, she was apparently still very self-conscious about sexual things. But in the end, that just made her efforts even more adorable.

I took the opportunity to let her know how much I appreciated that and combed past her ears with my hand. "You can get started now. Move them up and down. Trust me, I'll feel even better then."

Enthusiastic about pleasuring me, Jaina soon grabbed a hold of her tits and smooshed them together while sliding up and down around my cock. With firm pressure she squeezed it tightly and started to put all of her effort into smoothly rubbing my cock in between her distorting, plentiful breasts.

I could see from her flushing face that she was fully concentrating on it. Her mouth was slightly agape and I could faintly feel her hot breath when it hit the tip of my cock every time it peeked out of the top. With every elaborate stroke, I started to get more and more turned on and started to leak with precum. My cock glistened with wetness when it emerged from her cleavage, after a while being caked in slippery liquid.

But no matter how amazing it felt to have her give it her all, I felt like it could be even more amazing. I felt guilty for demanding it, but if I was going to put my trust into Jaina, I had to be forward. "Jaina, do you think you could… suck on it as well?"

Her motions didn't let up when she gaspingly looked up at me with a confused but attentive look. "Huh? But I'm already doing this with my breasts for you."

"I know, but do you see when my dick pops out of them at the top. When that happens, catch it with your mouth… and keep it there!" I ordered her, losing all sense of reluctance I had before. With my slipping cock, sliding through her tight crevasse. Her irregular movements as she was distracted from the talking sent shivers through my spine.

Jaina's face was flush with excitement and insecurity, but she nodded in response. "I'll do my best!" With those words, she looked down at her boobs while she moved them like a fisherman waiting for his bait to be taken. My red, swollen tip pistoned in and out of the cover until Jaina dove into her own breasts with her wide-open mouth.

With her forked tongue, she guided what she could catch into her mouth and started to suck on it hard to not lose her grip on it.

I was overwhelmed from the sudden mixture of supple softness and slippery moisture. While her skin and tongue were inherently cold, her breath was hot and wafting around my cock. It made for an incredible mix that made me moan and grip the sheets of the bed as well as the back of her head.

Jaina completely devoted herself to what she was doing, sucking as hard as she could and slurping loudly as her saliva swished about.

"It tashtes like your cum… I shtill remember it." She muttered as her eyes closed shut. She was taking in the taste and furrowing her brows as she did her best to lure the cum out of my balls. Her body pressed more and more against me, her breasts pumping on my lap.

"Fuck yeah, keep going, Jaina. I think… nghhh… I'll cum soon. You're doing great. You're doing amazing!" I shiver as her motions kept increasing in speed. Her tits slapped against my crotch with increasingly wet sounds emanating from it. I felt her tongue swirling around whatever length it could cover and her lips teased my cock as they slid over the ridge of its head.

My cock was twitching and I could feel myself edging closer to orgasm.

Once Jaina heard and processed that I was going to come, she was doing everything in her power to make it happen. She squeezed her breasts and lips tighter and was visibly hungering for my cum. She seemed intent on proving to me that she was a glutton at heart. The naughty noises that rang out through the small room, sent my mind into overdrive. I could feel my balls tighten and my shaft thicken in preparation for my climax.

I bunched up a bundle of her hair in my fist as I slowly lost my restraint.

And just as I reached my limit, Jaina shoved my cock far enough into her mouth for me to hit the back of her throat. A wave of cum sprayed onto her gums and tongue while whatever little rest that she couldn't hold in, spilled onto her breasts and made them glisten with my surprisingly plentiful sperm. I don't think I've ever came so hard in my life.

It felt like my orgasm sucked me dry, yet more and more of my cum bubbled up for Jaina to greedily swallow and lick up. There was no stopping her. Her throat pumped up and down without even breaking off for a second. Jaina even moved of her claws to hold my throbbing, pulsing member in place. She truly wanted to gulp down everything she could get.

It took several seconds before she finally finished and even licked my entire shaft and tip free of cum.

Her face was distant with a look of satisfaction. Her eyes were hooded and her tongue limply hung out of her mouth while she breathed heavily. As if to present herself to me, she looked up at me with her sparkling eyes and opened her mouth wide to show that it was empty. She didn't even notice that there were droplets of cum hanging from her chin as well as on her breast.

The sight alone was enough to get my cock to grow full on hard again.

"Jaina!" Grabbing her by her shoulders I pushed her towards the other bed that was parallel from hers. I pushed her onto the sheets, pinning her and swiftly capturing her lips. Even though I could faintly taste the remnants of my cum, I couldn't care less.

Jaina seemed in too much of a daze to be surprised at my sudden move and just went with the flow by wrestling my tongue with hers.

The more I got into our make-out session, the more I felt restraint by my clothes. I shimmied out of my pants and boots, and even Jaina couldn't wait any longer to get my burnt leather armor off me. With her claws she tore into it and roughly shoved my jacket off of me. "You don't need that thing anymore anyways!" She moaned in between kisses, disposing of my now burnt AND ripped armor.

After stripping me naked, Jaine threw her arms around my neck and head, passionately returning my kisses.

Without looking, I tried to reach for my cock and line it up with Jaina's dripping, faintly cold pussy. Our naked bodies were tightly pressed against each other and sweat was starting to form on our skin. I lovingly looked into Jaina's golden eyes as I gently held her cheek. She looked anxious and restless, shimmying around underneath me, causing her pussy to toy around with the tip of my cock.

"Nnnhhh…" She was audibly and visibly annoyed.

I chuckled cheekily. "What?"

"Put it in alreadyyyy…" She whined as she puffed her cheeks.

I deflated them again though as I popped her lips open to snake my tongue inside. Her eyes go wide before she returns to her dazed, desperate look. "Can do…" I mutter almost inaudibly in between kisses as I push my hip forwards and plunge straight into her folds.

Her wiggling insides snugly embraced my incoming cock while Jaina's mouth went more and more agape and her expression slack. Just the same, my face contorted in pleasure and ecstasy was rushing through my body.

My breath grew ragged and quivery as I began thrusting. At first slowly and deliberate, I slid in and out of her while holding her body close. My arms were on her side and her hip as my hands grabbed onto her supple skin.

When our synced rhythm sped up, our hands met and entwined left and right of Jaina's head. We were holding hands like lovers were supposed to when they were doing this. Our sweaty bodies collided harder and harder as my cock spread open her slit. Both our sexes were slick and wet with our juices, making it extremely easy for them to slide around and into each other.

"Fuck! Kalaydus! Faster! Hit it all the way in the back!" Jaina moaned into my ear.

I followed through with her orders and moved on to short but deep, grinding movements. Our crotches were almost glued together.

The more we went on and the further in we got, Jaina's legs slowly closed around me to keep me in place. Her leg claws were tense and twitched in erratic movements with every time I pounded into her.

My cock's head gouged her deep insides which were happily kissing my tip. I was embedded in this slight cold, yet it felt so snug to be inside of it.

"I love you, Jaina! Fuck! I love you!" I cried out, kissing Jaina's slender neck to reinforce my emotions.

Upon hearing this, she lost grip of my hands and instead dug her claws into my back. Not strong enough to hurt me, but enough to hold on and give me light scratches. "I love you too, Kalaydus! I love you so damn much! Oh my goooood!"

I was itching all over, craving to cum inside of her to seal our confessions. I wanted to fill her to the brim and give her all that I can.

Jaina closed her eyes and pressed her face into my shoulder while I was smothered by her earthy, but familiar smelling hair.

I crashed into her harder, making the juices splatter around between us and effectively ruining the bed. Our collisions began to ripple throughout our bodies and we tensed up from the impending finale.

"Cumming! I'm cumming, Kalaydus!" I heard the muffled, strained voice of Jaina reaching my ears.

"Same… haaaa... here!" I wrung out in response as I grabbed her smooth, sweaty thighs to get a tight grip and pulling her towards me.

Jaina was writhing in pleasure just as much as I was and I struggled to keep up the pace. Our lips slowly opened as we were ready to let out our final moans.

"HHhahhhhhhHHaahhhh!" "KyyaaaaaaaHHHH!"

Our bodies contorted, mangling on the bed. In several erratic spurts, I filled Jaina with my sperm to the point of overflowing. And yet I couldn't stop myself from spreading more and more of it. Jaina's insides constricted around me even though they could hardly get a grip with all the cum swishing around. Our bodies tensed up together and we embraced as we rode out our aftermath. With heavy breath, we slowly settled, cum flowing from our connection point in mass. The cloudy, clear liquid stained the bedsheets and created a small pool underneath us.

I lifted my head although I could barely even think straight right now. "Maybe we should use your bed tonight, huh?"

Jaina reacted with an exhausted smile. "You're probably right there. We'll switch it up next time."

I chuckled along with her, embarrassedly laughing at the thought that we were already thinking of doing this again in the future. We met in a gentle, soft kiss to send the night off before we sluggishly got up and moved over to Jaina's bed.

I pulled the blanket over us as we left the room and the bed in complete disarray. Well, not like it mattered much. It looked like a storage unit before already.

The gentle moonlight shone through a few slits in the bow of the ship and let the room glow in a dark blue. Jaina resting on top of me while I held her in my arm. She exhaustedly inhaled through her nose.

"I like your smell." She whispered.

I chuckled. "Where did that come from?"

"I dunno, it just came over me like that and I really wanted to tell you."

"You know that I still haven't had a shower yet, right? I've been walking around with thick armor until now. I must smell pretty strongly."

"Maybe… but now you smell just like me."

Somehow… those words made my heart flutter and I pulled Jaina even closer to me, nuzzling her hair. "I like your smell too, Jaina. I like it a lot actually." I muttered as I caressed her head.

We both closed our eyes as sleepiness took over. And with a few last words, Jaina closed off the night before we dozed off.

"I'm glad."


End file.
